The Court of Appeals last week determined that a trial court is not required to issue an adverse inference charge whenever the police could have, but failed to, electronically record an interrogation. The case is People v. Durant, 2015 NY Slip Op 08609 (Nov. 23, 2015).
New York law does not mandate that police custodial interrogations be recorded, although the Legislature is currently considering the enactment of laws rectifying that.1 The court in Durant, although recognizing “the broad consensus that electronic recording of interrogations has tremendous value,” noted that in New York, there is “no existing case law or statute that requires a trial court to instruct jurors that they may draw an adverse inference from the police’s decision not to record a custodial interrogation.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
