PRESS RELEASE
FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT, DISTRICT ATTORNEY
DATE: MARCH 13, 2015
The
Appellate Division, Third Department has unanimously affirmed judgments of
conviction in the following cases:
People
v Tyrone Chappelle
Defendant
was convicted on September 13, 2012 following a jury trial of two counts of
criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and two
counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, as a
result of his involvement in two separate sales of cocaine on November 16, 2011
to a confidential informant while an undercover officer was present and
witnessed the transactions. Defendant’s
arrest and conviction stemmed from a joint operation entitled “Operation Clean
Sweep” conducted by Kingston Police, the State Police and the URGENT Task
Force.
Following
his conviction, defendant, a prior felony offender, was sentenced by County
Court Judge Donald A. Williams to concurrent determinate terms of 10 years with
three years postrelease supervision on his possession convictions and
concurrent 15 year sentences with three years postrelease supervision on the
sale counts.
On
appeal, defendant maintained that reversible error occurred because a small
portion of the jury voir dire was not stenographically transcribed, and that
his attorney was ineffective for failing to object to this ‘glaring’ omission. Noting that the absence of a stenographic
record of jury selection does not, per se, require reversal of defendant’s
conviction, the Court, in rejecting defendant’s claim, further noted that
defendant did not request that any part of the voir dire be recorded nor assert
that he was prejudiced as a result of the stenographer’s failure to do so. The Court also concluded that defendant’s claim
that County Court erred in admitting the cocaine into evidence was unpreserved
for appellate review and that in any event, the People provided reasonable
assurances of the identity and unchanged condition of the substance to
establish that it was cocaine secured from the defendant.
On
appeal, the defendant is represented by John Ferrara, Esq. of Monticello, New
York. Assistant District Attorney Joan
Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.
People
v Ryan Novick
Defendant
was convicted on March 6, 2013 following a jury trial in the Ulster County
Court of robbery in the third degree and grand larceny in the third degree as a
result of his involvement in a bank robbery at the Sawyer Savings Bank in the Town
of Saugerties on April 10, 2012.
After
he was convicted of these charges, defendant was sentenced by County Court
Judge Williams to a State prison term of three and one-half to seven
years.
Although
the evidence against him was absolutely overwhelming, on appeal, defendant
argued that the jury’s verdict was against the weight of the evidence because
his girlfriend Amanda Muh’s testimony was patently incredible since she testified
in exchange for a favorable plea deal. In
addition to concluding that defendant’s convictions were not contrary to the
weight of the evidence, the Appellate Division, Third Department, addressing
defendant’s other contentions, found that both County Court’s Sandoval
and Molineux rulings were proper and not an abuse of discretion and that
the prosecutor’s summation did not deprive defendant of a fair trial.
On appeal,
defendant is represented by Cliff Gordon, Esq. of Monticello, New York. Assistant District Attorney Timothy D. Lawson
handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.
People
v Michael Taylor
Defendant
was convicted upon a jury verdict rendered July 6, 2012 of the crimes of two
counts 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 as
a result of an incident which occurred on November 22, 2011. On that date, defendant made two separate
sales of crack cocaine to an undercover officer in the City of Kingston as part
of a multi-agency investigation into drug trafficking in and around the City of
Kingston.
Defendant
was subsequently sentenced by County Court to an aggregate prison term of 15
years in State prison with three years of postrelease supervision on all four
counts.
On
appeal, defendant claimed that his constitutional right to the effective
assistance of counsel was violated because counsel failed to conduct an
adequate cross examination of the investigator as to whether he had performed
field tests on the substances purchased from the defendant. He also argued that
County Court erred in imposing consecutive sentences and that that error
rendered his sentence unduly harsh and excessive. The Appellate Division, Third Department
found defendant’s claims to be without merit.
On
appeal, defendant is represented by Arthur G. Dunn, Esq. of Troy, New
York. Shirley Huang, Esq. of Kingston,
New York handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.
