PEOPLE v. MCCLAUGHLIN (2025)

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (John Carter, J., at suppression hearing;  Laurence Busching, J., at plea and sentencing), rendered November 5, 2021, convicting defendant of assault in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a term of five years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant's voluntary waiver of his right to appeal (see People v. Thomas, 34 N.Y.3d 545, 122 N.Y.S.3d 226, 144 N.E.3d 970 [2019], cert denied 598 U.S. ––––, 140 S.Ct. 2634, 206 L.Ed.2d 512 [2020]) forecloses his arguments that the court erred in summarily denying his application for a Dunaway hearing and in denying suppression of one videotaped statement he made to a police detective and another he made to an assistant district attorney.

As alternative holdings, we find that the court properly denied the Dunaway application without a hearing because defendant's boilerplate allegations did not “raise a factual dispute on a material point which must be resolved before the court can decide the legal issue” (People v. Mendoza, 82 N.Y.2d 415, 426, 604 N.Y.S.2d 922, 624 N.E.2d 1017 [1993]), and that defendant's statement to the detective was properly admitted because defendant validly waived his Miranda rights before making the statement.

Finally, while we agree with defendant that his statement to the assistant district attorney should have been suppressed because he unequivocally invoked his right to counsel before making the statement (see People v. Porter, 9 N.Y.3d 966, 848 N.Y.S.2d 583, 878 N.E.2d 998 [2007];  People v. Roman, 175 A.D.3d 1198, 109 N.Y.S.3d 268 [1st Dept. 2019], lv denied 34 N.Y.3d 1081, 116 N.Y.S.3d 162, 139 N.E.3d 820 [2019]), that error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt in light of the overwhelming evidence, including DNA evidence and defendant's incriminating first statement.  There is no reasonable possibility that the error contributed to defendant's decision to plead guilty (see People v. Robles, 42 N.Y.3d 694, ––– N.Y.S.3d ––––, ––– N.E.3d ––––, 2024 N.Y. Slip Op. 05819, *2 [2024];  People v. Crimmins, 36 N.Y.2d 230, 367 N.Y.S.2d 213, 326 N.E.2d 787 [1975]).