Sabazz confers with his attorney, Joshua Povill, outside the county
courthouse
KINGSTON – The Ulster County District Attorney’s Office has
offered a plea bargain to Ismail Shabazz, the embattled Black Panther
accused of selling weapons to an undercover federal informant.
News of the offer was disclosed at a conference held Thursday at the County
Court in Kingston. In exchange for a guilty plea, all but the top count
would be dropped, resulting in a sentence of seven years in prison, plus
five years parole and a $6,000 fine,
Presiding Judge Richard McNally Jr. noted that he would strongly consider
the minimum sentence of 3 ½ years prison, two years probation,
and the fine. Defense replied they would take the offer under advisement
but not accept the plea at this time.
Defense attempted a counter-offer to a lesser charge, which was refusd
by prosecutors. On the table is a plea to second degree criminal sale
of a weapon, a violent felony.
Otherwise the trial will commence July 19.
The two other charges – possession of a loaded firearm – each
carries a potential sentence of 15 years. Shabazz is 60 years old.
An omnibus pre-trial defense motion is due May 2, answerable by prosecution
on May 16. Attorney Joshua Povill said discovery is roughly 80 percent
complete.
A pistol permit application, submitted by Shabazz several years ago, remains
unreleased. The form was never processed, and wound up at the DA’s
office. Discussion of the ironic document drew a smirk from the judge.
“It is somewhat of a side matter, but something I want to get
to the bottom of, with Ismail’s pistol permit,” Povill explained.
“We still don’t have a clear answer where it went. The application
was filed but we don’t know what happened with it. According to
the DA’s office, it was never acted on, it was never granted or
denied; it just sat; it was there,” he said.
