DEFENSE COUNSEL DID NOT INVESTIGATE ALIBI EVIDENCE, DID NOT OBJECT TO EVIDENCE WHICH HAD BEEN RULED OFF LIMITS, AND DID NOT IMPEACH THE COMPLAINANT WITH INCONSISTENT TESTIMONY, CONVICTION REVERSED (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined defense counsel’s failure to investigate alibi evidence, failure to object to evidence which had been ruled off limits, and failure to impeach the complainant constituted ineffective assistance:
Under the circumstances of this case, where the determination of guilt hinged on sharp issues of credibility, we find that trial counsel lacked a strategic or legitimate justification for the failure to investigate the defendant’s alleged alibi defense … , and to present evidence to impeach the complainant’s testimony as to the duration and frequency of the alleged abuse … . Further, trial counsel failed to impeach the complainant with her sworn testimony given in the grand jury, which contradicted her trial testimony in various respects … . Notwithstanding a pretrial ruling by the court precluding the People from eliciting testimony regarding an early 2010 conversation about the alleged abuse between the complainant and her friend, trial counsel failed to object when such testimony was elicited at the trial. As such, counsel failed in his duty to protect the defendant’s interests by objecting to the People’s introduction of inadmissible evidence … . People v Ramos, 2021 NY Slip Op 03200, Second Dept 5-19-21
