Press Release - Randy Cook Plea

FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT

DATE: MAY 30, 2013

RE:  PRESS RELEASE – RANDY COOK

     Randy L. Cook, (DOB: 7/30/83), of Rifton, N.Y., was convicted of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree after he entered a guilty plea on May 30, 2013, in Ulster County Court.

     In a move that is somewhat unusual Cook entered his guilty plea moments before the closing arguments were to begin in a jury trial which began on Tuesday, May 28, 2013. A jury consisting of six men and six women heard testimony on Wednesday, May 29, 2013, from three members of the Kingston Police Department. The crime arose from a police investigation near 72 Clinton Avenue on December 29, 2012, which uncovered Cook transporting a loaded .357 caliber handgun in a vehicle. Cook was taken into custody on an unrelated warrant arising from misdemeanor drug charges pending in Kingston City Court. The loaded .357 was found in a backpack in the trunk of the vehicle. Cook was spotted by police placing the backpack in the trunk seconds before driving. Within the next city block, Cook was pulled over by a uniformed member of the Kingston Police Department. A search of the backpack also revealed 49 rounds of live ammunition which fit the handgun.

     Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright stated, “This case is an excellent example of community policing. The Kingston Police Department received information from the public about a loaded gun in midtown Kingston.  Within forty minutes, the individual illegally possessing the gun was arrested and the handgun was removed from the streets.”

     Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree is a class C violent felony with a maximum penalty of fifteen years in state prison. Cook will be sentenced on August 1, 2013, by Ulster County Court Judge Donald A. Williams, who presided over the trial. Cook was represented by Conflict Defender Jeffrey Hoerter of the Dutchess County Public Defender’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Gerard Van Loan.

Press Release - Pedro Mil Sentence

FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT

DATE: MAY 30, 2013

RE: PRESS RELEASE – PEDRO MIL

Pedro Mil (30) of Saugerties was sentenced to 6 years in prison by the Hon. Thomas Breslin, Acting Ulster County Court Judge, following his conviction to Burglary in the second degree.  On July 3, 2011, at about 3:45 a.m., Mil, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, forced his way into an apartment at 12 Costello Court in Saugerties, occupied at the time by a mother and her two young daughters. The defendant struggled with the mother before fleeing the apartment. He was apprehended shortly thereafter by Town of Saugerties Police in another apartment in the same building which Mil shared with his girlfriend. It is likely Mil will be deported to Mexico upon his release from prison. 

The case was handled by the Town of Saugerties Police Department with the assistance of the Ulster County Sheriff's Office.

Press Release - Matthew DiDonna

FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT

DATE: MAY 30, 2013

RE:  PRESS RELEASE – MATTHEW DIDONNA

Matthew DiDonna, age 42, of Hurley, New York, pled guilty to the Class C Felony of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the fourth degree on May 28, 2013, before the Hon. Anthony McGinty in Ulster County Court.

The case stemmed from an incident that occurred on December 9, 2012, when DiDonna, a long-time teacher at Kingston High School, gave hallucinogenic mushrooms to a friend, Mark Conlin. Mr. Conlin died shortly thereafter from what were eventually determined to be unrelated causes. DiDonna is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge McGinty on January 7, 2014.

Press Release - Darion J. Brodhead/William Dalton Appeals

PRESS RELEASE

FROM:     HOLLEY CARNRIGHT

DATE:     MAY 24, 2013

The Appellate Division, Third Department has, yesterday, unanimously affirmed judgments of convictions in the following cases:

People v Darion J. Brodhead:

Darion J. Brodhead was convicted in the Ulster County Court (Williams, J.) on March 26, 2010 upon a plea of guilty of the crime of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, a class C violent felony.  Though only 16 years old on the evening of May 15, 2009, Brodhead was found by police to be carrying a loaded .25 caliber pistol in his backpack. 

Defendant pled guilty in County Court to one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree in exchange for a determinate term of seven years in State prison to be followed by five years postrelease supervision, which sentence was subsequently imposed by County Court. 

On appeal, defendant argued that County Court abused its discretion in denying his application for youthful offender treatment and that his sentence was unduly harsh and severe.  The Appellate Division, Third Department, however, noted that such decision rests within the sound discretion of the sentencing court and that the sentencing court had not improvidently exercised its discretion.    

On appeal, the defendant is represented by Sandra Colatosti, Esq. of Albany, New York.  Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.

People v William Dalton:

William Dalton was convicted in the Ulster County Court (Williams, J.) on May 26, 2010 upon his plea of guilty to the crimes of felony aggravated driving while intoxicated and a second charge of driving while intoxicated as a misdemeanor. 

On December 8, 2008 defendant was found by police stopped in the middle of Route 209 in Marbletown with his car engine running. He subsequently failed all field sobriety tests which were administered at the scene.  It was later determined by a chemical analysis of his breath that defendant had a .24 blood alcohol content. 

On June 6, 2009 the above referenced felony DWI was pending, the defendant was again arrested and charged with DWI.  He was indicted on each of these charges.

Defendant pled guilty to felony aggravated driving while intoxicated and misdemeanor driving while intoxicated in satisfaction of the two indictments in exchange for a term of one to three years in State prison and a $3,500 fine.  Prior to sentencing, defendant moved to withdraw his plea arguing that he had only pled guilty to avoid being subject to New York’s persistent felony offender statute, which he later claimed on appeal had been struck down by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals as unconstitutional shortly after he entered his plea. 

Defendant argued on appeal that County Court erred by denying his motion to withdraw his plea.  In rejecting defendant’s claim, however, the Appellate Division, Third Department made clear that the constitutionality of New York’s persistent felony offender statute has been consistently upheld on appeal by the New York Court of Appeals and the case cited by defendant in his brief has been overturned by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a later ruling. 

On appeal, the defendant is represented by Assistant Public Defender Michael Gould, Esq.  Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.

Press Releases Fernandez/Stroman/Lynn Appeals

FROM:     HOLLEY CARNRIGHT

DATE:     MAY 17, 2013

The Appellate Division, Third Department recently unanimously affirmed judgments of convictions in the following cases:

People v Marcos Fernandez:

The defendant was convicted after a jury trial of Sexual Abuse in the first degree and Endangering the Welfare of a Child in January of 2009 before the Hon. Joseph Teresi.  His charges stemmed from 2005 when between August, 2005 and December 31, 2005, the defendant, who turned 18 at Christmas, 2005, sexually abused his then eight year old niece while the victim visited her grandparents’ house in Ulster County.

Following that conviction Fernandez filed an appeal which was denied by the Appellate Division but subsequently reviewed by the Court of Appeals who reversed the defendant’s conviction on evidentiary grounds. (People v Fernandez 17 NY3d 70)

In December of 2011, the defendant was retried before the Hon. Roger McDonough, Acting County Court Judge, and again convicted.  Each trial was prosecuted by Chief Assistant District Attorney John Tobin. Following defendant’s second conviction he was sentenced to four months incarceration and ten years of postrelease supervision on the top count.

Fernandez again filed an appeal.

Defendant’s primary contention on appeal was that the jury’s verdict was contrary to the weight of the credible evidence and that the sentencing court abused its discretion by failing to grant him youthful offender status.  The Appellate Division, Third Department, however, found both claims to be without merit. 

On appeal, the defendant is represented by Cynthia Feathers, Esq. of Glens Falls, New York.  Jason Kovacs, Esq. with the law firm of Rusk, Wadlin, Heppner & Martuscello handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.

People v Isaac K. Stroman:

Stroman was convicted in the Ulster County, County Court (Williams, J.) of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the third degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the third degree on December 10, 2010 following a jury trial.

In August, 2009, following a series of phone calls initiated by a confidential informant, defendant sold 100 packets of heroin to a confidential informant in the presence of an undercover officer in exchange for $900 in prerecorded buy money.  Immediately following the sale, defendant was arrested by members of the take down team and searched, at which time the prerecorded buy money, together with a quantity of crack cocaine and marijuana were seized.

Defendant, a second felony offender, was subsequently sentenced by County Court Judge Williams to concurrent terms of 15 years in State Prison followed by three years of postrelease supervision.  On appeal, the defendant not only challenged the Court’s ruling denying his motion to suppress, arguing that the police lacked probable cause to arrest him, but that he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel and denied due process because the People knowingly used false evidence to secure his conviction.  In addition, defendant argued that the 15 year sentence imposed by the Court was unduly harsh and excessive.  The multiple claims of error raised by the defendant were rejected by the reviewing court. 

On appeal, the defendant is represented by Adam G. Parisi, Esq. of Schenectady, New York.  Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.

People v Michael Lynn:

Lynn was convicted in the Ulster County Court (Williams, J.) upon a plea of guilty of the crime of Grand Larceny in the third degree as a result of his theft and use of a credit card.  At the time he entered his plea defendant waived indictment and waived his right to appeal. 

Defendant, a prior felony offender, was subsequently sentenced by County Court to an indeterminate term of three and one-half to seven years.  Defendant agued on appeal that his sentence was harsh and excessive and raised a claim of judicial bias. Both claims, as the Third Department noted, were precluded by his valid waiver of appeal. 

On appeal, the defendant is represented by Neal D. Futerfas, Esq. of White Plains, New York.  Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.