State v. McKnight
New Jersey Supreme Court
243 A.2d 240 (N.J. 1968)
McKnight was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on the jury's recommendation. The killing occurred during a holdup: the victim, 18-year-old Ronald Sandlin, was a gas station attendant in Lakewood, New Jersey, whom McKnight knew well from having worked with him elsewhere. Early on the morning of August 7, 1966, McKnight and Charles Holland, with whose sister McKnight lived, went to the service station to commit robbery, and Sandlin was killed in the course of it.
Whether a defendant's understanding of the potential utility of having a lawyer is a prerequisite to the defendant's waiver of his right to counsel, once police have given the defendant Miranda warnings.