A defense attorney who contended a client who slashed his roommate was not guilty of attempted murder did not render ineffective assistance by failing to argue “vociferously” that the defendant also was not guilty of first-degree assault, a split appellate panel has determined.
“Although counsel did not explicitly argue to the jury that they could find defendant not guilty on those charges, his comments were not a concession of guilt. Rather, it is apparent that counsel’s strategy was to focus the jury on what he correctly believed was the winnable part of the People’s case,” a 3-2 majority of the Appellate Division, First Department, wrote last week in affirming the conviction of Akieme Nesbitt’s for first-degree assault in People v. Nesbitt, 4889-2005.
