Appellate court upholds prison sentences
A state appellate court on Thursday unanimously affirmed a prison sentence for a Kingston man who pleaded guilty in 2014 to attempted sexual abuse, the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office said.
Joshua Sickler, 37, pleaded guilty in September 2014 before Judge Donald A. Williams in Ulster County Court to attempted sexual abuse and was sentenced to six months in the Ulster County Jail, followed by 10 years of probation, according to a press release.
Less than a year later, Sickler violated a number of conditions of his probation, leading Williams to revoke his probation and sentence him to the maximum term permissible for attempted sexual abuse — four years in prison, followed by 10 years of postrelease supervision, the District Attorney’s Office said.
On appeal, Sickler argued the maximum sentence was “unduly harsh and excessive,” but the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, Third Department, disagreed.
The court also largely denied appeals Thursday from Jason Wands, 33, of Marlboro, and Damon Dunn, 41, of Kingston, the District Attorney’s Office said.
In May 2016, Wands was convicted after pleading guilty to attempted burglary and waiving his right to appeal.
Wands, a repeat felony offender, was sentenced by Williams to seven years in state prison followed by five years of post-release supervision.
On appeal, he argued that the sentence was harsh and excessive. The court disagreed.
In July 2013, Dunn pleaded guilty to sale of a controlled substance after making drug sales in the presence of an undercover officer in Kingston. He also waived his right to appeal. Also a repeat felony offender, Dunn was sentenced to six years in prison followed by three years of post-release supervision and was ordered to pay $450 in restitution.
On appeal, Dunn challenged the validity of his waiver of appeal and also questioned the amount of restitution and the time of sentence, claiming it did not reflect the terms of his plea agreement, according to the District Attorney’s 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 Office.
The court conceded that the restitution should have been $250 and made that adjustment, but upheld all other aspects of the judge’s ruling, according to the press release. 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