| People v Njasang Nji |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 07472 [66 AD3d 538] |
| October 20, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Njasang Nji, Appellant. |
—[*1] Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx (Jason S. Whitehead of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Robert G. Seewald, J.), rendered January 8, 2007,convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of manslaughter in the first degree, and sentencing him toa term of 10 years, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim is unreviewable on direct appeal becauseit involve matters outside the record involving counsel's strategic decisions (see People vRivera, 71 NY2d 705, 709 [1988]; People v Love, 57 NY2d 998 [1982]). Inparticular, the present record is insufficient to support defendant's claim that his trial counselsimply followed his client's direction not to pursue a justification defense rather than exercisinghis own professional judgment. On the existing record, to the extent it permits review, we findthat defendant received effective assistance under the state and federal standards (see Peoplev Benevento, 91 NY2d 708, 713-714 [1998]; see also Strickland v Washington, 466US 668 [1984]), in that counsel made a reasonable strategic decision, after consulting withdefendant, not to request a justification instruction. Counsel could have reasonably concludedthat a justification defense would have been weak, at best, and that it would have undermined astronger defense denying culpability and asserting the culpability of a specific third party(see People v Vukel, 263 AD2d 416 [1999], lv denied 94 NY2d 830 [1999]).Concur—Tom, J.P., Buckley, Catterson, Freedman and Abdus-Salaam, JJ.