Opinion
808
April 18, 2002.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Ronald Zweibel, J.), rendered November 9, 2000, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first, second and third degrees, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 15 years to life, 6 years to life, and 4½ to 9 years, respectively, unanimously affirmed.
DONALD J. SIEWERT, for respondent.
MARIANNE KARAS, for defendant-appellant.
Before: Tom, J.P., Andrias, Buckley, Wallach, Lerner, JJ.
Defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim involves matters of strategy and, in particular, defendant's personal participation in certain strategic decisions, which can not be reviewed on the existing record. On the record before us, we find that defendant received meaningful representation (see, People v. Benevento, 91 N.Y.2d 708, 713-714). The record fails to support defendant's claim that he was prejudiced by his trial counsel's belated realization that defendant's voice could be heard on a audiotape containing negotiations for the purchase of drugs by an undercover officer; we note that this tape was only a small portion of the People's overwhelming proof. Furthermore, with respect to the argument that defense counsel permitted defendant to testify to facts that substantially conceded his guilt, we conclude that defendant's testimony represented a reasonable, although unsuccessful, attempt to minimize his general involvement with the cooperating accomplice-witness and to distance himself from the charged sales.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.