Appellate court overturns added sentence on driver
An additional sentence on a convicted drunken driver, imposed after he violated a sentencing requirement in Ulster County Court, was overturned Thursday by a state appellate court.
James J. Arvidson, of Catskill, was arrested by Saugerties police on May 8, 2011, and was charged with felony drunken driving.
According to the decision, Arvidson in 2012 pleaded guilty to drunken driving and aggravated unlicensed driving, both felonies, and was sentenced to a year in jail, followed by three years of conditional discharge, and was ordered to drive only vehicles in which ignition interlock devices had been installed.
After Arvidson served his jail term, the ruling said, he violated his discharge by driving a vehicle without an ignition interlock device. In 2016, the decision said, he admitted “to violating the terms of his conditional discharge, and County Court revoked the conditional discharge and sentenced him to an additional aggregate prison term of 1 to 3 years, to be followed by three years of conditional discharge.”
On appeal, he challenged the additional sentence.
Citing a 2017 decision, the court ruled in favor of Arvidson, quoting from its People vs. Coon ruling, which states, “A defendant must be sentenced according to the law as it existed at the time that he or she committed the offense and, at the time defendant operated a vehicle without an ignition interlock device, the applicable law did not allow for the imposition of an additional period of imprisonment.”
Arvidson’s lawyer, Andrew R. Safranko, said Williams recognized the “complicated nature of the issue of law and granted us bail pending an appeal so that the Appellate Division could decide.”
“Frankly, I applaud Judge Williams for doing that,” Safranko said, explaining that his client remained out of jail pending the appeals ruling.
Safranko said his client, “As I understand it, can be (now be) sentenced to an extended conditional discharge, an additional fine and potentially probation.” 79 Hurley Ave. Kingston, NY 12401 dailyfreeman.com Phone: 845-331-5000 Newsroom Fax: 845-331-3557 General Fax: 845-338-0672 CONTACT US Publisher: Kevin Corrado, kcorrado@ digitalfirstmedia.com Managing editor: Tony Adamis, tadamis@freemanonline.com City editor: Jeremy Schiffres, jschiffres@freemanonline.com News tips: news@freemanonline.com Sports results: sports@freemanonline.com Life: life@freemanonline.com Photo submission: news@freemanonline.com Regional Circulation Director: Michael Sheehan, msheehan@lowellsun.com ADVERTISING Classified: 845-338-0606 classified@freemanonline.com Display: 845-331-5000 ads@freemanonline.com Online: 845-338-0606 ads@freemanonline.com Advertising director: Tim Tergeoglou, ttergeoglou@adtaxi.com Online sales manager: Barbara Norton, bnorton@adtaxi.com Circulation Customer Service: 1-888-699-7699 The Daily Freeman (ISSN 074-64932) is published Monday through Saturday. The Sunday Freeman (ISSN 076-8164) is published Sunday. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Daily Freeman, 79 Hurley Ave., Kingston, NY 12401. Copyright 2017. No reproduction or reuse of material without express written consent. To request permission to reprint material, contact the editor. This newspaper is protected under the Federal Copyright Act. Member, Alliance for Audit Media