Case Name: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Michael Butler, Appellant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 2016-06-09
Citations: 140 A.D.3d 472
Docket Number: 
Parties: The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Michael Butler, Appellant.
Judges: Concur— Mazzarelli, J.P., Acosta, Saxe, Kapnick and Kahn, JJ.
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 140
Pages: 472–473

Head Matter:
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v Michael Butler, Appellant.
[31 NYS3d 877]

Opinion:
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Ralph Fabrizio, J.), rendered March 8, 2012, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of manslaughter in the first degree, and sentencing him to a term of 22 years, unanimously affirmed.
The record does not establish that counsel improperly delegated to her client the decision to agree to a joint trial with the codefendant. Instead, the record supports the conclusion that in agreeing to a joint trial, along with redactions of portions of defendant's statement that arguably incriminated the codefendant, counsel weighed defendant's desire for a joint trial, but ultimately accepted her client's choice on the basis of her own professional judgment as well (see People v Gottsche, 118 AD3d 1303, 1303-1305 [4th Dept 2014], lv denied 24 NY3d 1084 [2014]). This is not a case like People v Colville (20 NY3d 20 [2012]), or People v Lee (120 AD3d 1137 [2014]), where the court made a ruling by choosing the defendant's position over the attorney's contrary position on a matter within the purview of counsel. In any event, harmless error analysis applies (see Colville, 20 NY3d at 32-33), and we find that any error in this regard was harmless.
We perceive no basis for reducing the sentence.
Concur— Mazzarelli, J.P., Acosta, Saxe, Kapnick and Kahn, JJ.