Opinion
February 22, 1999
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Rotker, J.).
Ordered that the motion is granted, Herbert Kellner is relieved as attorney for the defendant and is directed to turn over all papers in his possession to new counsel assigned herein; and it is further,
Ordered that Steven A. Feldman, Esq. of 1800 Northern Blvd. Suite 206, Rosly, N.Y., 11576, is assigned as counsel to perfect the appeal; and it is further,
Ordered that the People are directed to furnish a copy of the stenographic minutes to the new assigned counsel; and it is further,
Ordered that new counsel shall serve and file a brief on behalf of the defendant within 90 days of the date of this decision and order and the People shall serve and file their brief within 120 days of the date of this decision and order; by prior decision and order of this Court, the defendant was granted leave to prosecute the appeal on the original papers (including the typewritten stenographic minutes) and on the typewritten briefs of the parties, who were directed to file nine copies of their respective briefs and to serve one copy on each other.
Based upon this Court's independent review of the record, we conclude that arguable issues exist with respect to, inter alia, the denial after a hearing of that branch of the defendant's pretrial motion which was to suppress his statements to the police. Under the circumstances, the motion of the defendant's assigned counsel to be relieved as counsel is granted and new appellate counsel is assigned (see, People v. Gonzalez, 47 N.Y.2d 606; People v. Casiano, 67 N.Y.2d 906; People v. Miller, 99 A.D.2d 1021), and the appeal is held in abeyance.
O'Brien, J. P., Ritter, Thompson and Goldstein, JJ., concur.