People v Flores

People v Flores 2010 NY Slip Op 04440 [73 AD3d 614] May 25, 2010 Appellate Division, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. As corrected through Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,
v
Edison Flores, Appellant.

—[*1] Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Barbara Zolot of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Brian E. Rodkey of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Rena K. Uviller, J.), rendered January 29, 2009, as amended March 24, 2009, convicting defendant, after a nonjury trial, of sexual abuse in the first degree (two counts) and endangering the welfare of a child, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of 3½ years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is unreviewable on direct appeal because it involves matters outside the record concerning defense counsel's choice of trial strategy (see People v Love, 57 NY2d 998 [1982]). Although the present, unexpanded record is not conclusive on the matter, it suggests that defendant agreed with the very actions of counsel about which he now complains. In any event, defendant has not demonstrated "the absence of strategic or other legitimate explanations" (People v Rivera, 71 NY2d 705, 709 [1988]) for the manner in which counsel conducted the trial. Concur—Andrias, J.P., Saxe, McGuire, Moskowitz and Freedman, JJ.