Justice Robert Rose
McLean appealed the denial of his motion to vacate the judgment convicting him of the crimes of murderer in the second degree, attempted robbery in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, conspiracy in the fourth degree, and criminal mischief in the third degree, after a hearing. He argued that his right to counsel with respect to the murder charges indelibly attached in 2003 when the Assistant Public Defender assigned to represent him in connection with an unrelated robbery charge, contacted the Schenectady County DA's Office seeking a cooperation agreement. That proposal, made at McLean's request, was that he would receive a reduced sentence on his plea of guilty to the robbery charge in exchange for information regarding a shooting. Ultimately, however, prosecution determined that the information provided by McLean was not helpful to their investigation and he received no benefit from the cooperation agreement when he was sentenced on the robbery conviction. The court denied McLean's appeal, finding his claim of denial of ineffective assistance of counsel to be meritless.
