When Does The Right To Counsel Attach?



A person's right to counsel indelibly attaches to a matter upon any one of 3 activating occasions (1) entry or maintaining of counsel on the matter; (2) beginning of a criminal prosecution of the matter; (3) request for counsel or invocation of the right to counsel concerning the matter while held in custody.

When the right to counsel indelibly connects based upon among the three rules noted above, any declaration intentionally elicited from that person by the police without counsel present undergoes suppression and any grant browse obtained without counsel present is invalid. In New York the right to counsel indelibly attaches to a matter on any one of the 3 activating occasions: (1) Request for counsel while in custody; (2) Commencement of criminal prosecution on the matter (generally starts by filing of accusatory instrument); (3) Entry or keeping of counsel on the matter.

The New York Court of Appeals has recognized that the New York right to counsel guideline under the New York State Constitution Short Article 1 Section 6 is much more comprehensive than the federal right to counsel guideline under the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment. In New York, the right to counsel is grounded on this State's constitutional and statutory warranties of the opportunity against self-incrimination, the right to the help of counsel, and due procedure of law.

Differences in between the right to counsel guidelines under New York State law and federal law.

A crucial distinction between the right to counsel under the New york city guideline and the federal rule is that under the federal guideline, an accused maintains the power to waive the right to counsel without first consulting his attorney if the defendant has any conversations with the cops and if the accused committed a voluntary and understanding waiver of his right to counsel; in New york city one may not waive the right to counsel without very first conferring with an attorney even if voluntary as well as if the defendant starts the discussion.

Additionally, in New York City, a defendant for whom counsel has actually interceded might not waive counsel without counsel being present, even if the suspect has no concept that an attorney has actually been obtained for him, as long as the police do. Under the federal rule if the offender does not know about counsel's intervention he might waive the right to counsel without counsel being present or having actually conferred with counsel.

The basic rule in New York is that somebody that is held in custody on a criminal matter where an attorney has actually gone into that matter, then the enduring right to counsel has connected and the person being held might not waive the right to counsel with regard to Psychologists in Perth that matter unless he has consulted a lawyer.

Additionally, an individual held in custody on a criminal matter, where counsel has gone into, he may not validly waive the right to counsel on other matter, even if it is unrelated to the matter upon which counsel has actually entered. When an offender is represented on a charge for which he is being held in custody, he might not be interrogated in the lack of counsel on any matter, whether related or unassociated to the topic of the representation.

Just recently, the New York Court of Appeals has actually found that even if it is reasonable for an interrogator to presume that an attorney might have entered the custodial matter, there should be a questions concerning the offender's representational status and the interrogator will be charged with the understanding that such an inquiry likely would have exposed.

Notably, the Court of Appeals has actually also held recently that where a criminal offender is being held and is represented by counsel in an earlier Family Court matter that the indelible right to counsel does not connect by virtue of an attorney-client relationship in a Family Court or other Civil proceeding. The Court of Appeals specified that while an attorney-client relationship formed in one criminal matter may in some cases disallow questioning in another matter in the absence of counsel, a relationship formed in a civl matter is not entitled to the very same deference.


The New York Court of Appeals has acknowledged that the New York right to counsel rule under the New York State Constitution Short Article 1 Area 6 is much broader than the federal right to counsel guideline under the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment. In New York, the right to counsel is grounded on this State's statutory and constitutional warranties of the benefit versus self-incrimination, the right to the assistance of counsel, and due process of law. The right to counsel is so revered in New York that it might be raised for the first time on appeal.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *