MONTICELLO – The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court has significantly reduced the prison sentence of a former Monticello man who was convicted of breaking into a motel room and stealing personal property belonging to another tenant.
Angelo “Deon” Johnson, 45, was convicted in November 2017 and sentenced as a persistent felony offender to 15 years to life in prison.
In his appeal, Johnson challenged a number of issues including a technicality that the wrong section of the law was originally cited when he was charged. But, the appeals court said that amounted to “mere technical defects that neither changed the theory of the People’s case nor constituted jurisdictional impediments requiring reversal.”
Johnson also maintained that a suitcase he was seen carrying on surveillance video was given to him by the motel clerk and that he had not stolen it from the room. The court rejected that argument as well.
The appellate division also rejected his claim of ineffective trial counsel and his challenge to the second felony offender statement on the basis that it failed to specify whether his predicate felony conviction was for a violent offense.
The court, did, however, express “serious concerns as to the fairness of the sentencing proceedings and the harshness of the sentence imposed and find it necessary to vacate the sentence, as well as the persistent felony offender adjudication, in the interest of justice.”
As a result, the court said it was appropriate to sentence Johnson as a second felony offender, to a prison term of five years with five years of post-release supervision.
Johnson’s criminal record spanned 26 years including selling crack cocaine to an undercover state trooper, for which he served five years in state prison, and a New Jersey conviction of felony endangering the welfare of a child for having sexual contact with an 11-year-old.
