| People v Faulkner |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 08338 [55 AD3d 924] |
| October 28, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v JasonFaulkner, Appellant. |
—[*1] Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, N.Y. (John M. Castellano and Ushir Panditof counsel), for respondent.
Appeals by the defendant (1) from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Flaherty,J.), rendered March 12, 2001, convicting him of manslaughter in the first degree, attempted robbery inthe first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and assault in the second degree(three counts), upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence, and (2), by permission, from an order of thesame court dated May 3, 2005, which denied, without a hearing, his motion pursuant to CPL 440.10 tovacate the judgment.
Ordered that the judgment and the order are affirmed.
The defendant's challenge to his convictions, based on a purported violation of his due processright to a jury of his own choosing, is without merit. As an initial matter, we do not agree with thePeople's contention that the defendant failed to preserve his objection to the dismissal of a sworn juror(see CPL 470.05 [2]). Contrary to the defendant's contention, however, the court made areasonably thorough inquiry into the juror's circumstances, finding out that the juror had a death in thefamily, that the juror had only two days to plan for a family funeral, and that the juror additionallyneeded to make plans to travel for a second funeral service for that deceased relative. Under thesecircumstances, the court properly exercised its discretion in discharging the juror because he was"unavailable for continued service" within the meaning of the statute (CPL 270.35 [1]; see People vRiccardi, 199 AD2d 432 [1993]; People v Hill, 182 AD2d 640 [1992]).
Contrary to the defendant's argument on appeal that he was denied the effective assistance ofcounsel, a review of the record reveals that the defendant's attorney offered a plausible theory of [*2]the case, effectively cross-examined the People's witnesses, and obtaineda hearing on an important missing witness question. Thus, on balance, the defendant was afforded theeffective assistance of counsel (see People v Flores, 84 NY2d 184, 187 [1994]; People vBaldi, 54 NY2d 137, 146-147 [1981]).
The defendant contends that this Court must excise from his sentence the period of postreleasesupervision added by the Department of Correctional Services (hereinafter DOCS). Neither thesentencing minutes nor the order of commitment mentioned the imposition of any period of postreleasesupervision. Therefore, the sentence imposed by the court "never included, and [does] not now include,any period of postrelease supervision" (People v Guare, 45 AD3d 697 [2007]; see Hill vUnited States ex rel. Wampler, 298 US 460 [1936]; People v Thompson, 39 AD3d 572,573 [2007]; People v Benson, 38 AD3d 563, 564 [2007]). DOCS does not have authority toadd postrelease supervision to the defendant's sentence (see Matter of Garner v New York StateDept. of Correctional Servs., 10 NY3d 358 [2008]). The Court of Appeals' recentpronouncement in People v Sparber (10 NY3d 457 [2008]), regarding the proper remedy fora court's failure to pronounce the required sentence is inapplicable since, in this case, the postreleasesupervision is not reflected on the order of commitment. Thus, rather than having been imposed in aprocedurally defective manner (see People v Sparber, 10 NY3d 457 [2008]), here, the periodof postrelease supervision was never imposed at all (see generally Matter of Garner v New YorkState Dept. of Correctional Servs., 10 NY3d 358 [2008]).
The Supreme Court properly denied the defendant's motion pursuant to CPL 440.10 to vacate thejudgment of conviction. Contrary to the defendant's contention, the indictment of his trial attorney by theUnited States Attorney's Office, during his trial, did not create a conflict which deprived the defendantof his Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel. Moreover, there was no evidencesubmitted in support of the parties' motion papers to suggest that the defendant's attorney was beinginvestigated by the District Attorney's office (compare United States v Levy, 25 F3d 146,156-157 [1994], with Armienti v U.S., 313 F3d 807, 813-814 [2002]). The parties' motionpapers were also unaccompanied by any evidence demonstrating that the Supreme Court was aware ofa potential conflict which would have necessitated the court's inquiry on the record as to whether thedefendant consented to his attorney's continued representation (see People v McDonald, 68NY2d 1, 8 [1986]; People v Macerola, 47 NY2d 257 [1979]).
The defendant's remaining contentions are without merit. Mastro, J.P., Skelos, Lifson andLeventhal, JJ., concur.