What is the test for ineffective assistance in a criminal case?

Where a claim of ineffective assistance is raised on appeal and where, as here, "'the record contains no explanation for the challenged behavior, an appellate court will reject the claim of ineffective assistance "unless counsel was asked for an explanation and failed to provide one, or unless there simply could be no satisfactory explanation . . . ." [Citation]'" (People v. Osband (1996) 13 Cal.4th 622, 700-701.) Although the record here contains no explanation for his trial attorney's challenged behavior, Matters insists there can be no explanation for her failure to seek a reduction of the offense to a misdemeanor. The Attorney General, on the other hand, argues that the record sheds no light as to why counsel failed to request that the witness intimidation conviction be reduced to a misdemeanor, and that, in any case, counsel may reasonably have decided not to do so "because it would have been futile given the trial court's statements and sentencing decisions."