PEOPLE v. LOVING

We reject defendant's claim, raised for the first time on appeal, that he was denied effective assistance of counsel. The record indicates that trial counsel obtained, and represented defendant at, a pretrial suppression hearing, cross-examined the People's eyewitnesses in an attempt to attack their credibility and reliability, presented and vigorously pursued a self-defense issue, and succeeded in obtaining defendant's acquittal on the murder count. In these circumstances, it is clear that defendant received meaningful representation at trial (People v Baldi, 54 N.Y.2d 137).

Concur — Murphy, P.J., Milonas, Kupferman, Ross and Nardelli, JJ.