KINGSTON – The Appellate Division, third Department, of State Supreme Court, affirmed judgments of convictions in three cases.
In May 2016, Jason Wands was convicted based on his guilty plea to the crime of attempted burglary and was sentenced to seven years in state prison followed by five years of post-release supervision. On appeal, Wands argued the sentence was unduly harsh and excessive, but the court found the claim was precluded by his valid waiver of appeal.
In July 2013, Damon Dunn pled guilty to criminal sale of a controlled
substance in a series of drug sales he made to a confidential informant
in the presence of an undercover police officer in the City of Kingston.
A second felony offender, Dunn was sentenced to up to six years in state
prison followed by three years of post-release supervision and ordered
by pay $450 in restitution. On appeal, he changed the validity of his
oral and written waiver of appeal and the amount of the restitution assessed
claiming it did not reflect the terms of the plea agreement. The DA’s
Office conceded that it had inadvertently requests the incorrect amount
of restitution at the time of sentence and the award was modified to $250.
The appellate court rejected all other claims in Dunn’s appeal.
In September 2014, Joshua Sickler pled guilty to attempted sexual abuse and was sentenced to six months in the Ulster County Jail to be followed by 10 years of probation. Less than one year later, he violated some conditions of his probation and a declaration of delinquency was filed by the probation department. County Court Judge Donald Williams revoked his probation and sentenced him to four years in prison followed by 10 years of post-release supervision, the maximum allowable for attempted sexual abuse. Sickler argued in the appeals court that his sentenced was unduly harsh and excessive, but the appellate division disagreed saying he violated terms and conditions of his probation by having unsupervised contact with minors, using the Internet to email a young girl from Mexico and possessing pornographic material.
