Opinion
Submitted October 18, 1999
November 30, 1999
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Bruno, J.), rendered April 15, 1997, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Merrick Dammar, Bronx, N.Y., for appellant.
Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Roseann B. MacKechnie and Jodi L. Mandel of counsel), for respondent.
LAWRENCE J. BRACKEN, J.P., SONDRA MILLER, WILLIAM C. THOMPSON, WILLIAM D. FRIEDMANN, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
Contrary to the defendant's contention, under the totality of the circumstances, he received the effective assistance of counsel to which he was constitutionally entitled ( see, People v. Benevenuto, 91 N.Y.2d 708, 712-713; People v. Baldi, 54 N.Y.2d 137, 147). Mere losing tactics are not to be confused with ineffectiveness, and to sustain a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel, proof of less than meaningful representation is required, rather than disagreement with counsel's strategies and tactics ( see, People v. Benevento, 91 N.Y.2d 708, 713; People v. Rivera, 71 N.Y.2d 705; People v. Satterfield, 66 N.Y.2d 796; People v. Mack, 235 A.D.2d 548, 550; People v. Rodriguez, 196 A.D.2d 514).
BRACKEN, J.P., S. MILLER, THOMPSON, and FRIEDMANN, JJ., concur.