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DEFENDANT ENTITLED TO A HEARING ON HIS MOTION TO VACATE HIS CONVICTION ON THE GROUND DEFENSE COUNSEL WAS INEFFECTIVE FOR FAILING TO INFORM HIM THE DECISION WHETHER TO TESTIFY WAS HIS TO MAKE (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined a hearing was required on defendant motion to vacate his conviction alleging defense counsel was ineffective for failing to inform him the decision whether to testify was defendant’s to make:

… [T]he court erred in denying his motion without a hearing with respect to whether defense counsel fulfilled his duty of advising defendant that his decision to testify was ultimately his own, not defense counsel’s, to make (see People v Cosby, 82 AD3d 63, 66 [4th Dept 2011], lv denied 16 NY3d 857 [2011]). Defendant has made a proper showing for a hearing by asserting a viable legal basis for the motion, substantiated by his own unrefuted sworn allegations and other evidentiary submissions … , and neither the mandatory denial provisions of CPL 440.10 (2) nor the permissive denial provisions of CPL 440.10 (3) apply to this case … . Cosby, relied on by both the court and the People in support of denying the motion, is distinguishable from this case inasmuch as a hearing pursuant to CPL 440.30 (5) was held in Cosby, thereby permitting us to determine on the merits that defendant was not deprived of his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel and, consequently, that his right to a fair trial was not seriously compromised … . No such determination on the merits can be made on the record before us. We therefore reverse the order and remit the matter to Supreme Court for a hearing pursuant to CPL 440.30 (5) on that part of defendant’s motion. People v Mirabella, 2020 NY Slip Op 05388, Fourth Dept 10-2-20

 

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