| People v Maldonado |
| 2019 NY Slip Op 08513 [177 AD3d 554] |
| November 21, 2019 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
[*1]
| The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Wilson Maldonado, Appellant. |
Robert S. Dean, Center for Appellate Litigation, New York (Emmanuel HiramArnaud of counsel), for appellant.
Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Aaron Zucker of counsel), forrespondent.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Roger S. Hayes, J.), rendered May 20,2016, convicting defendant, after a nonjury trial, of criminal contempt in the seconddegree, and sentencing him to a term of one year, unanimously affirmed.
Defendant did not preserve his contention that the count charging second-degreecriminal contempt was rendered duplicitous, or his related claim that the People'ssummation constructively amended the indictment and deprived defendant of fair noticeof the charges, and we decline to review these claims in the interest of justice. As analternative holding, we also reject them on the merits. It was the People's theorythroughout that the altercation between defendant and the victim was a single continuousviolation of an order of protection, as reflected in all relevant documents. It waspermissible for the entire course of conduct to be charged as a single count of contempt(see People v Alonzo, 16NY3d 267, 270 [2011]), and for the People to argue that theory (see People v Tucker, 41 AD3d210, 211 [1st Dept 2007], lv denied 9 NY3d 882 [2007], cert denied552 US 1153 [2008]).
We have considered and rejected defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claimsrelating to the unpreserved issues (see People v Benevento, 91 NY2d 708,713-714 [1998]; Strickland v Washington, 466 US 668 [1984]).
Defendant failed to preserve, and expressly waived, his claim that his right to apublic trial was violated when the court heard legal arguments, outside the presence ofspectators, in a room adjacent to the courtroom, and we decline to review it in the interestof justice (see People vRoberts, 31 NY3d 406, 426 [2018]). Concur—Friedman, J.P., Renwick,Oing, Singh, JJ.