Proceedings Pursuant to CPL 440.10 Required to Determine Whether Defense Counsel Was Ineffective for Failing to Move to Reopen the Suppression Hearing When Trial Evidence Called Into Question the Arresting Officer’s Credibility

The First Department, over a dissent, found that  the trial record was insufficient to determine whether defendant’s counsel was ineffective for failing to ask to reopen a suppression hearing when the trial evidence called into question the arresting officer’s credibility.  The conviction was affirmed without prejudice and the matter was sent back for further proceedings under a motion to vacate the conviction pursuant to CPL 440.10:

The issue of effective assistance of counsel is generally not reviewable on direct appeal, because it involves facts dehors the record, such as trial counsel’s strategy … . Accordingly, a defendant who seeks to bring an ineffective assistance of counsel claim usually must first expand the record by way of a CPL 440.10 motion before this Court can consider it … . However, there are rare instances where the full record is sufficient to resolve the issue of counsel’s effectiveness without a 440.10 motion … . This is not one of those rare cases.  * * *

The extant record potentially supports a finding that counsel fundamentally misunderstood the necessity of making the motion to reopen the suppression hearing during trial, rather than waiting for a motion to set aside the verdict, in the event of a conviction. Defense counsel’s remarks at sentencing, seemingly prompted by the court’s denial of the motion to set aside the verdict, were a belated attempt to explain counsel’s failure to move to reopen the hearing. Whether defense counsel was effective or not necessarily requires an evaluation of the credibility and logic of the proffered explanation, that defense counsel was afraid he would “lose that jury” and that he believed the witness “was on the ropes.” Although defense counsel may have genuinely been hopeful that the jury would acquit his client, this explanation cannot be accepted at face value. After all, as the trial court’s decision indicates, had defense counsel timely moved to reopen the suppression hearing, the application would have been granted, and the court could have quickly ruled upon it while giving the jury a short recess. The “witness” referred to was the arresting officer, and was available. On the other hand, there may have been legitimate concerns about the jury undeveloped on this record. In short, we cannot decide on the extant record whether defense counsel’s failure to move to reopen the hearing was truly “strategic.”  People v Medina-Gonzalez, 2014 NY Slip Op 02531, 1st Dept 4-15-14