Summary
finding that defendant was not deprived of effective assistance of counsel where Legal Aid Society had also represented the chief prosecution witness in an unrelated case for which the witness was on probation, since defendant's representation was not "affected by the purported conflict" and "[t]rial counsel's cross-examination and summation with respect to the credibility of the witness in question demonstrated sound trial tactics"
Summary of this case from State v. MarkOpinion
November 18, 1997
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Budd Goodman, J.).
Defendant was not deprived of effective assistance of counsel by the fact that his trial counsel, the Legal Aid Society, had also represented the chief prosecution witness in an unrelated case upon which the witness was on probation, irrespective of whether the allegedly conflicting representation were to be viewed as concurrent or successive (People v. Dakin, 199 A.D.2d 407, lv denied 82 N.Y.2d 923; see also, People v. Wilkins, 28 N.Y.2d 53). The record does not support defendant's contention that his representation at trial was affected by the purported conflict. Trial counsel's cross-examination and summation with respect to the credibility of the witness in question demonstrated sound trial tactics.
Concur — Sullivan, J. P., Rosenberger, Wallach, Nardelli and Colabella, JJ.