Documents: Court upholds sentence

TROY, N.Y. >> The State of New York Appellate Division Third Judicial Department recently issued a decision on a sentencing of a man previously convicted in Rensselaer County Court.

A previous decision was rendered January 29, 2015, for Anthony Waterman upon his plea of guilty of the crimes of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a firearm.

Court officials said in satisfaction of a seven-count indictment, the defendant pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a firearm pursuant to a plea agreement that included an oral and written waiver of appeal.

Officials said under the terms of the plea agreement, Waterman was to be sentenced as a second felony offender to a prison term of six years followed by three years of post release supervision upon his conviction of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and to a prison term of 2½ to 7 years up on his conviction of criminal possession of a firearm, which sentences were to run concurrently.

Prior to sentencing, however, it was discovered that the sentence to be imposed on the firearm conviction was illegal and that the maximum legal sentence that could be imposed was a prison term of 2 to 4 years.

County Court officials said they expressed its intention to impose this sentence and gave Waterman an opportunity to withdraw his guilty plea, which they said he declined.

Officials said County Court proceeded to sentence Waterman as originally agreed on the controlled substance conviction and to a prison term of 2 to 4 years on the firearm conviction, to run concurrently.

Waterman eventually filed an appeal, officials said.

Initially, officials said, Waterman contends that his guilty plea was not knowing, voluntary and intelligent because the sentence to be imposed on the firearm conviction, which was part of the original plea agreement, was illegal.

“This claim is unpre- served for our review as the record does not disclose that defendant made an appropriate post allocution motion to withdraw his guilty plea on this basis. In any event, it bears noting that prior to sentencing, County Court provided defendant with an opportunity to withdraw his guilty plea for this very reason,” part of the decision reads.

Officials said Waterman, however, declined to do so and indicated that he wished to accept the prison sentence of 2 to 4 years on the firearm conviction, which was less than the sentence proposed in the original plea agreement.

“Therefore, we find no basis for disturbing defendant’s guilty plea,” part of the decision reads. “Defen- dant also challenges the severity of the sentence and the validity of his waiver of the right to appeal. Preliminarily, we note that defendant’s appeal waiver is invalid given County Court’s failure to ascertain that defendant fully understood the consequences of his oral and written waiver and, therefore, he is not precluded from challenging the severity of the sentence.

“Nevertheless, we are not persuaded that the sentence is either harsh or. In view of defendant’s lengthy criminal record and his commission of multiple drugrelated offenses, we find no extraordinary circumstances or abuse of discretion warranting a reduction of the sentence in the interest of justice.”