Appellate court upholds criminal contempt conviction

KINGSTON – A man, who pled guilty in Ulster County Court in September 2013 to two counts of criminal contempt, had an appeal rejected.
John Howland’s conviction was based on two separate incidents that occurred in December 2012 involving two victims.
In one incident, he made at least six threatening phone calls to a woman in violation of an order of protection. Two weeks later, he threatened another woman with a shotgun.
As a result, he was sentenced to consecutive one to three years in state prison.
On appeal, Howland challenged the factual sufficiency of his plea allocution and argued the county court’s imposition of consecutive sentences was illegal and unauthorized. The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court rejected his contentions and affirmed his convictions.