Counsel’s Failure to Object to References to Defendant’s Nickname Constituted Ineffective Assistance/Court’s Dismissal of an Entire Jury Panel Was Reversible Error

The Fourth Department reversed defendant’s conviction finding defense counsel ineffective for failure to object to the repeated references (by witnesses and the prosecutor) to the defendant’s nickname “killer.”  In addition, the Fourth Department determined the trial judge committed reversible error when he dismissed an entire jury panel:

Where, as here, a jury panel is “properly drawn and sworn to answer questions truthfully, there must be legal cause or a peremptory challenge to exclude a [prospective] juror” (…see CPL 270.05 [2]).  By dismissing the entire jury panel without questioning the ability of the individual prospective jurors to be fair and impartial …, the court deprived defendant of a jury chosen “at random from a fair cross-section of the community” (Judiciary Law § 500…). People v Collier, 8, 4th Dept 2-7-14