A state appeals court has ordered that a hearing be held to determine whether a woman received effective assistance of counsel during her trial on charges of setting a fire that killed her infant daughter.
A unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, ruled that Acting Steuben County Court Judge Marianne Furfure erred when she dismissed, without a hearing, defendant Rachael Casey’s CPL 440.10 motion to vacate a judgment finding her guilty of murder and arson in the July 2001 death of 7-month-old Klara Casey Lawton.
