| People v Townsend |
| 2014 NY Slip Op 05811 [120 AD3d 595] |
| August 13, 2014 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Kevin Townsend, Appellant. |
Lynn W.L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (William Kastin of counsel), for appellant.
Kenneth P. Thompson, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove andKeith Dolan of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant, by permission, from an order of the Supreme Court, KingsCounty (Marrus, J.), dated July 11, 2012, which denied, without a hearing, his motionpursuant to CPL 440.10 to vacate a judgment of the same court rendered April 7, 2009,convicting him of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon inthe third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Ordered that the order is affirmed.
Contrary to the defendant's contention on his motion pursuant to CPL 440.10 tovacate his prior judgment of conviction, he was not deprived of the effective assistanceof counsel (see Strickland v Washington, 466 US 668 [1984]; People v Caban, 5 NY3d143 [2005]). Although his counsel failed to object to the trial court's improperparticipation in the reading back of testimony requested by the jury (see People v Feurtado, 112AD3d 962, 962 [2013]; People v Facey, 104 AD3d 788, 789 [2013]; People v Brockett, 74 AD3d1218, 1221 [2010]), the court's error was harmless under the circumstances of thiscase, and counsel's failure to object did not deprive the defendant of a fair trial (seePeople v Caban, 5 NY3d at 155-156; People v Pedraza, 56 AD3d 390, 392 [2008]). Uponconsideration of the entire record, trial counsel provided meaningful representation(see People v Benevento, 91 NY2d 708, 712 [1998]; People v Baldi, 54NY2d 137, 147 [1981]), and the defendant's motion pursuant to CPL 440.10 wasproperly denied without a hearing. Mastro, J.P., Rivera, Balkin and Miller, JJ.,concur.