Opinion
2011-09-22
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent,v.Danny McNEIL, Appellant.
Edward Fassett Jr., Duanesburg, for appellant.Gerald A. Keene, District Attorney, Owego, for respondent.
Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Tioga County (Sgueglia, J.), rendered February 20, 2009, which revoked defendant's probation and imposed a sentence of imprisonment.
In January 2007, defendant was convicted of aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the first degree and was sentenced to five years of probation. At that time, he also was convicted of driving while intoxicated for which he received a
conditional discharge. In August 2008, defendant was charged with violating various conditions of his probation. He subsequently pleaded guilty to violating certain of the enumerated conditions and agreed to leave sentencing to the discretion of County Court. Thereafter, County Court revoked defendant's probation and resentenced him to 1 to 4 years in prison. Defendant now appeals.
Defendant's sole contention on appeal is that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing because counsel did nothing more than ask County Court to restore defendant to probation. Contrary to defendant's assertion, counsel expounded upon this request by reminding the court that defendant was doing well living in a halfway house and was making progress in a treatment program. Moreover, in light of defendant's long history of alcohol-related offenses and prior probation violations, counsel's options at sentencing were somewhat limited. Accordingly, under these circumstances, we cannot conclude that defendant was deprived of meaningful representation ( see People v. Baldi, 54 N.Y.2d 137, 147, 444 N.Y.S.2d 893, 429 N.E.2d 400 [1981]; People v. McCowan, 226 A.D.2d 759, 639 N.Y.S.2d 969 [1996], lv. denied 88 N.Y.2d 938, 647 N.Y.S.2d 172, 670 N.E.2d 456 [1996] ).
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
MERCURE, J.P., SPAIN, MALONE JR., KAVANAGH and EGAN Jr., JJ., concur.