People v Pena

2011 NY Slip Op 00560

Decided on February 1, 2011

Appellate Division, First Department

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on February 1, 2011
Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Renwick, Freedman, Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.
4151 6127/06






Jorge Guttlein, New York, for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Vincent
Rivellese of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (William A. Wetzel, J.), rendered March 12, 2007, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of 4 years, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant was not deprived of his right to conflict-free counsel when his attorney represented a codefendant at a joint guilty plea proceeding, in the temporary absence of the codefendant's own attorney. Defendant has not established that any conflict of interest operated to his detriment or bore a substantial relation to the conduct of the defense (see People v Recupero, 73 NY2d 877, 879 [1988]; see also Cuyler v Sullivan, 446 US 335, 348-350 [1980]). The record, including the transcript of the sentencing proceeding at which the codefendant's attorney appeared, establishes that defendant's attorney's brief representation of the codefendant was essentially ministerial. We also note that defendant and the codefendant received identical dispositions.

The plea minutes also establish that defendant was expressly informed of the deportation consequences of his guilty plea, and his arguments to the contrary are without merit.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: FEBRUARY 1, 2011

CLERK