Opinion
October 3, 2000.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Dorothy Cropper, J.), rendered February 25, 1997, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of two counts each of attempted robbery in the first and second degrees, and sentencing him to four concurrent terms of 1 1/2 to 4 1/2 years, unanimously affirmed.
Mathew Kleiner, for respondent.
Jojo Annobil, for defendant-appellant.
Before: Williams, J.P., Tom, Ellerin, Rubin, Saxe, JJ.
The verdict was based on legally sufficient evidence and was not against the weight of the evidence. We see no reason to disturb the jury's determinations concerning credibility. There was ample evidence, including defendant's own admissions, of defendant's active participation in the attempted robberies.
Defendant's ineffective assistance claim involves a matter of strategy that requires a CPL 440.10 motion in order to amplify the record. On the present record we find that defendant received effective assistance of counsel (see, People v. Benevento, 91 N.Y.2d 708, 713-714). It was a reasonable strategy to forgo the affirmative defense to first-degree robbery and rely exclusively on a claim that the altercation with the victims did not involve attempted robbery (see,People v. Sanchez, 244 A.D.2d 284, lv denied 91 N.Y.2d 897; see also,People v. Maldonado, 175 A.D.2d 698, 700).
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.