People v. Butler — 140 A.D.3d 472

Majority

p. 472

The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Michael Butler, Appellant.

[31 NYS3d 877]

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,

p. 473

118 AD3d 1303 , 1303-1305 [4th Dept 2014], lv denied 24 NY3d 1084 [2014]). This is not a case like People v Colville ( 20 NY3d 20 [2012]), or People v Lee ( 120 AD3d 1137 [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 NY3d at 32-33 ), and we find that any error in this regard was harmless.

We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.

Concur— Mazzarelli, J.P., Acosta, Saxe, Kapnick and Kahn, JJ.

Cases cited

People v. Gottsche 118 AD3d 1303 N.Y. App. Div. 2014-06-13 at 1303-1305 p. 473
People v. Colville 20 NY3d 20 N.Y. 2012-10-23 p. 473
People v. Lee 120 AD3d 1137 N.Y. App. Div. 2014-09-25 p. 473