47 A.D.2d 906 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1975
Appeal by defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Nassau County, rendered May 3, 1974, convicting him of manslaughter in the first degree, kidnapping in the first degree and kidnapping in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. Judgment affirmed. The proof overwhelmingly established that defendant caused the death of his paramour’s eighit-year-oid daughter by repeatedly stabbing her with a knife. Prior to the trial, a Huntley hearing was held on the issue of the voluntariness of certain statements made by defendant, subsequent to his arrest, to various members of the police department. At the hearing, defense counsel took the position that defendant’s mental state at the time he gave these statements was such that he could not have made a knowing and intelligent waiver of his constitutional rights. At the trial, each of the police officers who had contact with defendant on the date in question testified that he appeared normal, was coherent and did not seem to be