KINGSTON – The Appellate Division, Third Department unanimously affirmed the June, 2013 conviction of Vincent Giammichele upon his plea of guilty of the crime of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, a class B felony.
Defendant’s conviction arises as a result of a series of crack cocaine sales he made to a confidential informant in Napanoch, and Wawarsing in March and April, 2012. In full satisfaction of an indictment which charged him with multiple counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, defendant pled guilty to one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree in exchange for a promised sentence of seven years conditioned upon him not committing any additional offenses prior to sentencing. Before sentencing, however, defendant was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and possession of prison contraband in the second degree.
At sentencing, after he admitted he had violated one of the conditions of his plea, County Court (Donald A. Williams, J.) sentenced defendant, a second felony offender, to an eight year State prison term to be followed by two years of postrelease supervision and ordered him to pay $500 in restitution.
On appeal, defendant argued that his plea was invalid because he was not sufficiently apprised of his rights. He also argued that the Court erred in imposing an enhanced sentence because he was not specifically advised of the maximum term of imprisonment he faced if he violated the terms and conditions of his plea. These claims were, however, rejected by the Appellate Division, Third Department.
