People v. Agard

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Renee A. White, J.), entered on or about September 23, 2011, which denied defendant’s CPL 440.20 motion to set aside his sentence, unanimously reversed, on the law, the motion granted and the matter remanded for a new second violent felony offender adjudication and sentencing.

Defense counsel rendered ineffective assistance at the underlying sentencing proceeding by failing to ascertain that, in violation of People v Catu ( 4 NY3d 242 [2005]), defendant was not advised about postrelease supervision at the time of his prior plea, and by failing to litigate whether the Catu violation rendered the prior conviction unconstitutional for predicate felony purposes (see People v Fagan, 116 AD3d 451 [1st Dept 2014]).

The People take the position that, as a matter of law, the Catu error does not prevent the prior conviction from being used as a predicate felony, and that therefore it would have been futile for sentencing counsel to have argued otherwise. In support of this position, the People assert that a Catu error is not a federal constitutional violation under CPL 400.15 (7) (b),

Concur — Sweeny, J.P., Andrias, Manzanet-Daniels and Clark, JJ.