MONTICELLO – The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court has dismissed the conviction of a former Monticello Village Police officer on charges that he had sexual contact with an underage girl.
The appeals court dismissed the conviction of Yermia Solomon, also known as Jeremy Solomon, based on a typographical error in the indictment filed against him by a Sullivan County grand jury in November 2016, when County Court Judge James Farrell was the district attorney.
At the time of the alleged oral sexual conduct, the victim was 15 years old; however, the indictment incorrectly stated she was over 17.
The DA’s office twice moved to amend the indictment to correct the victim’s date of birth. County court granted the second motion on the grounds that the error was typographical.
As a result, the charges of criminal sexual act, rape and official misconduct were consolidated to a plea of endangering the welfare of a child. The “superior court information,” though, repeated the same error that existed, misstating the victim’s date of birth, making her over the age of 17 at the time of the alleged offenses.
Solomon entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to three years of probation.
He later appealed and the appellate court found the superior court information was “jurisdictionally defective because it failed to effectively charge defendant with the commission of a crime where the date of birth indicated that the victim was 17 at the time of the offense.”
Current DA Megan Galligan told Mid-Hudson News that her office is “evaluating every option available to move this case forward in light of the ruling.” Her office can bring the case to a new grand jury, appeal the decision to the State Court of Appeals or let the appellate court’s ruling stand.
