People v. Alvarez

125 N.E.3d 117, 101 N.Y.S.3d 702, 33 N.Y.3d 286
Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors·Decided March 28, 2019·No. No. 13·Published·Cited by 42 cases

Opinions

STEIN, J.

***288On this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the Appellate Division *119properly denied defendant's petition for a **704writ of error coram nobis based upon his claim that he was deprived of the effective assistance of appellate counsel due to counsel's failure to challenge defendant's sentences as unduly harsh and severe, and claimed deficiencies in the quality of both the appellate brief and appellate counsel's communication with defendant. Because defendant was provided with meaningful representation under this State's well-settled ineffective assistance of counsel standard, we conclude that the Appellate Division correctly denied his application. We, therefore, affirm.

In 1996, defendant was convicted, upon a jury verdict, of conspiracy in the first degree, murder in the second degree, two counts of attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first and second degrees, criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third degrees, and criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second and third degrees. These convictions arose from defendant's membership in a narcotics trafficking organization, which enforced its control over its drug territory with extreme acts of violence. Defendant, who sold large quantities of crack cocaine to undercover police officers on multiple occasions, fulfilled the role of a "manager," whose duties included enforcing discipline among the organization's workers, using physical force to protect the organization and its assets, and supervising street dealers for that organization. In one instance, defendant, together with his codefendants, fired approximately thirty bullets in a drive-by shooting, hitting three teenagers-a 14-year-old and two 15-year-olds. The shooting killed the 14-year-old and caused one of the surviving victims to suffer permanent disabilities.

***289At sentencing, defendant denied responsibility for the shooting, expressly refused to apologize to the deceased victim's family, and laughed while the Court explained its sentencing determination. The court ultimately imposed consecutive sentences, whereby defendant received an aggregate term of 66 2/3 years to life in prison.1

On his direct appeal to the Appellate Division, defendant was represented by assigned counsel, who raised four reviewable issues in a brief submitted on defendant's behalf. Specifically, appellate counsel argued that: at the time of defendant's arrest, the police conducted an illegal search, resulting in recovery of a loaded weapon and drugs that should have been suppressed; the trial court erroneously denied defendant's request for an adjournment to review certain evidence with his counsel before trial; the court illegally sealed the witness list, interfering with his ability to prepare for cross-examination of the People's witnesses; and the verdict on the conspiracy count was against the weight of the evidence. The Appellate Division affirmed the judgment of conviction, after considering and rejecting each of appellate counsel's arguments on the merits ( 275 A.D.2d 679, 680, 713 N.Y.S.2d 529 [1st Dept. 2000] ).

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People v. Alvarez, 125 N.E.3d 117, 101 N.Y.S.3d 702, 33 N.Y.3d 286 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2019).

125 N.E.3d 117 (People v. Alvarez) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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