Opinion
06-09-2016
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Michael BUTLER, Defendant–Appellant.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Allen Fallek of counsel), for appellant. Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney, Bronx (Lori Farrington of counsel), for respondent.
Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Allen Fallek of counsel), for appellant.
Darcel D. Clark, District Attorney, Bronx (Lori Farrington of counsel), for respondent.
Opinion Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Ralph Fabrizio, J.), rendered March 8, 2012, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of manslaughter in the first degree, and sentencing him to a term of 22 years, unanimously affirmed.
The record does not establish that counsel improperly delegated to her client the decision to agree to a joint trial with the codefendant. Instead, the record supports the conclusion that in agreeing to a joint trial, along with redactions of portions of defendant's statement that arguably incriminated the codefendant, counsel weighed defendant's desire for a joint trial, but ultimately accepted her client's choice on the basis of her own professional judgment as well (see People v. Gottsche, 118 A.D.3d 1303, 1303–1305, 987 N.Y.S.2d 736 [4th Dept.2014], lv. denied 24 N.Y.3d 1084, 1 N.Y.S.3d 11, 25 N.E.3d 348 [2014] ). This is not a case like People v. Colville, 20 N.Y.3d 20, 955 N.Y.S.2d 799, 979 N.E.2d 1125 (2012), or People v. Lee, 120 A.D.3d 1137, 992 N.Y.S.2d 429 (2014), where the court made a ruling by choosing the defendant's position over the attorney's contrary position on a matter within the purview of counsel. In any event, harmless error analysis applies (see Colville, 20 N.Y.3d at 32–33, 955 N.Y.S.2d 799, 979 N.E.2d 1125 ), and we find that any error in this regard was harmless.
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.
MAZZARELLI, J.P., ACOSTA, SAXE, KAPNICK, KAHN, JJ., concur.