MONTICELLO – The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court has returned the case of a man who pled guilty in 2012 to burglary and arson charges back to Sullivan County Court to determine if he should have been sentenced as a juvenile offender.
Nicholas Simon was 17 and 18 at the time of the criminal behavior from May through December 2011.
He was sentenced by then-County Court Judge Frank LaBuda, according to a plea agreement, to concurrent prison terms of 14 years followed by five years of post-release supervision.
Simon appealed the case, seeking, among other things, that the appellate court either adjudicate him a youthful offender or return the case to county court for a determination.
“Whether to grant youthful offender status lies within the discretion of the sentencing court and cannot be dispensed with through the plea-bargaining process,” the appellate justices wrote in a May 19 decision.
Therefore, the appeals court vacated Simon’s sentence and returned the case to county court for further proceedings and for resentencing.
