People v. WrightPeople v. Wright
Following a jury trial in November 2009, defendant was convicted of attempted rape in the first degree and two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree. Both defendant‘s judgment of conviction and the order denying his subsequent
The State and Federal Constitutions guarantee a criminal defendant the right to the effective assistance of counsel, that is, “representation that is reasonably competent, conflict-free and singlemindedly devoted to the client‘s best interests” (People v Payton, 22 NY3d 1011, 1013 [2013] [internal quota-
Defendant‘s assertion that an actual conflict of interest existed between Long and Soares finds no support in the record. It is undisputed that Long began representing defendant in the instant matter in February 2009 and continued to represent defendant in the pretrial stages of the criminal action until he was terminated in September 2009, approximately two months prior to the commencement of the jury trial. In support of his claim that Long was operating under a conflict at the time of the representation, defendant proffered a copy of an October 18, 2008 newspaper article which stated that Long had sent a letter to the Albany County Board of Elections on behalf of Soares’ reelection campaign regarding the omission of Soares’ name from a party line on thousands of absentee ballots for the 2008 election. The record is bereft of any evidence, however, that Long represented Soares or his campaign at any other time during the period leading up to and through his representation of defendant in the instant criminal action.2 Having put forth no proof that the representation was concur-
Assuming, without deciding, that Long represented Soares during his reelection campaign and that such representation created a potential conflict of interest, we conclude that defendant failed to meet the heavy burden of showing that “the conduct of his defense was in fact affected by the operation of the conflict of interest, or that the conflict ‘operated on’ the representation” (People v Ortiz, 76 NY2d at 657, quoting People v Alicea, 61 NY2d 23, 31 [1983]; accord People v Konstantinides, 14 NY3d at 10; People v Robles, 115 AD3d 30, 37 [2014], lv denied 22 NY3d 1202 [2014]; see People v Sanchez, 21 NY3d at 223). The record plainly reveals that, during the seven-month pretrial period in which he represented defendant, Long made multiple court appearances on defendant‘s behalf, arranged for the crime scene to be photographed, assisted defendant in preparing to testify before the grand jury and filed appropriate motions to, among other things, suppress defendant‘s statement to police and dismiss the indictment. Perhaps most notably, Long obtained two favorable plea offers, both of which defendant rejected (see People v Abar, 99 NY2d 406, 410 [2003]; People v Bier, 307 AD2d 649, 650-651 [2003], lv denied 100 NY2d 618 [2003]). Moreover, Long‘s representation of defendant ended two months prior to the commencement of the jury trial, and there is no suggestion that the successor attorney‘s loyalty to defendant was in any way compromised or that his representation of defendant leading up to and through the trial was less than meaningful (cf. People v Konstantinides, 14 NY3d at 11-12). In light of these circumstances, defendant has failed to demonstrate that any such conflict operated on his defense (see id.; People v Abar, 99 NY2d at 410-411; People v Monette, 70 AD3d 1186, 1187-1188 [2010], lv denied 15 NY3d 776 [2010]; People v McCrone, 12 AD3d 848, 849-850 [2004], lv denied 4 NY3d 800 [2005]; People v Bier, 307 AD2d at 650-651).
Finally, absent a showing of “actual prejudice arising from a demonstrated conflict of interest or a substantial risk of an abuse of confidence” (Matter of Schumer v Holtzman, 60 NY2d 46, 55 [1983]), County Court was not required to disqualify the District Attorney‘s office with regard to any further proceedings that may arise in this case (see People v English, 88 NY2d 30, 34 [1996]; People v Herr, 86 NY2d 638, 641-642 [1995]; People v Giroux, 122 AD3d 1063, 1064 [2014]; People v Zinkhen, 89 AD3d 1319, 1320 [2011], lv denied 18 NY3d 964 [2012]).