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People v. Hall

Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Nov 15, 2023
221 A.D.3d 829 (N.Y. App. Div. 2023)

Opinion

2020–01092 Ind. No. 3012/16

11-15-2023

The PEOPLE, etc., respondent, v. Kevin HALL, appellant.

Patricia Pazner, New York, NY (Cynthia Colt of counsel), for appellant. Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney, Brooklyn, NY (Leonard Joblove, Keith Dolan, and Keerthana Nunna of counsel), for respondent.


Patricia Pazner, New York, NY (Cynthia Colt of counsel), for appellant.

Eric Gonzalez, District Attorney, Brooklyn, NY (Leonard Joblove, Keith Dolan, and Keerthana Nunna of counsel), for respondent.

MARK C. DILLON, J.P., WILLIAM G. FORD, DEBORAH A. DOWLING, CARL J. LANDICINO, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Joanne D. Quinones, J.), rendered August 23, 2019, convicting him of manslaughter in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant was found guilty of manslaughter in the first degree after he stabbed a friend in the chest during a physical altercation. The defendant's contention that he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel at trial is without merit. Because there was no reasonable view of the evidence that the defendant acted merely recklessly, defense counsel was not ineffective for failing to request the lesser included charge of manslaughter in the second degree inasmuch as such a request would have had little or no chance of success (see People v. Bailey, 181 A.D.3d 1172, 1174, 118 N.Y.S.3d 351 ; People v. Henley, 145 A.D.3d 1578, 1580, 45 N.Y.S.3d 739 ). The evidence, the law, and the circumstances of this particular case, viewed in totality and as of the time of the representation, reveal that defense counsel provided meaningful representation (see People v. Baldi, 54 N.Y.2d 137, 146–147, 444 N.Y.S.2d 893, 429 N.E.2d 400 ).

The defendant contends that he was deprived of a fair trial when the Supreme Court provided the jury with a transcript of the testimony of a key prosecution witness, in response to the jury's note requesting to hear the witness's testimony in full. Given that defense counsel consented to send the transcript in to the jury, the defendant's contention is affirmatively waived (see People v. Moore, 213 A.D.3d 1213, 1215, 182 N.Y.S.3d 448 ; People v. Edwards, 208 A.D.3d 510, 516, 172 N.Y.S.3d 466 ).

Furthermore, the sentence imposed was not excessive (see People v. Suitte, 90 A.D.2d 80, 455 N.Y.S.2d 675 ).

DILLON, J.P., FORD, DOWLING and LANDICINO, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Hall

Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Nov 15, 2023
221 A.D.3d 829 (N.Y. App. Div. 2023)
Case details for

People v. Hall

Case Details

Full title:The People of the State of New York, respondent, v. Kevin Hall, appellant.

Court:Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Nov 15, 2023

Citations

221 A.D.3d 829 (N.Y. App. Div. 2023)
2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 5740
198 N.Y.S.3d 765