| People v Sellers |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 01336 [59 AD3d 294] |
| February 24, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Khaliyq Sellers, Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Hannah E.C. Moore of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Caesar Cirigliano, J.), rendered January 30, 2007,convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of assault in the first degree, and sentencing him to a termof eight years, unanimously affirmed.
The verdict was not against the weight of the evidence (see People v Danielson, 9 NY3d 342, 348-349 [2007]). There is nobasis for disturbing the jury's determinations concerning credibility. Defendant's intent to cause,at the very least, serious physical injury could be readily inferred from his act of firing a shotgunat the victim from a distance of four feet (see People v Getch, 50 NY2d 456, 465[1980]). The evidence also disproved defendant's justification defense beyond a reasonabledoubt.
Defendant did not preserve his argument that the court should have placed annotations onthe verdict sheet differentiating between the two counts of first-degree assault, or his challengesto the court's main and supplemental jury instructions, and we decline to review these claims inthe interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we find no basis for reversal. Defendant alsoclaims that by failing to raise these issues, as well as an issue regarding the prosecutor's allegedinterruptions of defendant's grand jury testimony, his attorney rendered ineffective assistance.However, to the extent the present record permits review, we conclude that defendant receivedeffective assistance under the state and federal standards (see People v Benevento, 91NY2d 708, 713-714 [1998]; see also Strickland v Washington, 466 US 668 [1984]).Even if counsel should have made all the arguments at issue, his failure to do so did not causedefendant any prejudice (see People vCaban, 5 NY3d 143, 155-156 [2005]; People v Hobot, 84 NY2d 1021, 1024[1995]; compare People v Turner, 5NY3d 476 [2005]). Concur—Andrias, J.P., Sweeny, McGuire and DeGrasse, JJ.