MONTICELLO – A Brooklyn man who was charged along with a codefendant in a 14-count indictment including charges of robbery and assault has lost the appeal of his conviction.
Tyquan Hillard and Khalif Watson allegedly entered an AT&T store in Monticello, pulled a gun, ordered the employees and customers into a back room, then bound them and stole over $3,000 in merchandise from the store and a customer.
It was also alleged that a police officer was injured while pursing the two men after they fled the store in a car.
In satisfaction of the charges, Hilliard pled guilty to one count of robbery and one count of assault and waived his right to appeal.
Prior to sentencing, he moved to withdraw his plea claiming ineffective assistance of counsel and was assigned a new lawyer.
At the sentencing hearing, he withdrew the motion to withdraw his plea and was sentenced as a second violent felony offender to 10 ½ years on the robbery conviction and a lesser concurrent term on the assault conviction, to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.
Hilliard appealed the ruling to the State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department.
The court conceded that his waiver of the right to appeal is invalid “as the written waiver is overly broad and Supreme Court did not ensure that defendant understood the distinction that some appellate review survived.” The appeals court, however, did not buy into Hilliard’s challenges to the voluntariness of his plea.
The appeals court also rejected his ascertain that his sentence was overly harsh.
