ALBANY – Some Court of Appeals judges shared concern Wednesday that Nassau County police officers may have breached the attorney-client relationship by not telling a suspect in a fatal drunk driving crash that her lawyer had just called them.
The suspect, Jonai Washington, claimed that had she known a lawyer was available, she may have reconsidered submitting to an alcohol breath test. But the officers’ refusal to let the attorney talk to her just before taking the test has led two lower courts to suppress the results as evidence against her, and led to Wednesday’s arguments in People v. Washington, 65, before the state’s highest court.
