People v. Burton

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Budd G. Goodman, J, at substitution of counsel; Robert H. Straus, J., at jury trial and sentence), rendered August 23, 2004, convicting defendant of robbery in the first degree and two counts of robbery in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to an aggregate term of 18 years, unanimously reversed, on the law, and the matter remanded for a new trial.

As the People concede, the court’s sua sponte discharge of *204counsel, who had actively participated in motion practice and had demonstrated familiarity with the case,…