Rapist’s efforts to shorten prison sentence rejected

ALBANY — A state appeals court roundly rejected efforts by convicted rapist Todd Buchas to get his sentence — 12 years in prison followed by 20 years of post-release supervision — reduced due to an overly broad waiver of his right to appeal.

The Saratoga Springs resident pleaded guilty in November 2020 to rape in the first degree as the result of an incident in which he engaged in sexual activity with an 11-year-old relative. His appeal was based on what the court and the district attorney’s office conceded was an “invalid” waiver of his right to appeal his sentencing, including the imposed term of post-release supervision.

Despite that concession, Thursday’s decision by the Appellate Division’s Third Department found the sentence to be appropriate, and spent a paragraph detailing why in the court’s opinion that was so.

“Although (Saratoga) County Court imposed the maximum period of postrelease supervision … the record supports County Court’s finding that defendant failed to fully accept responsibility for his crime and/or appreciate the lifelong ramifications of his actions upon the victim,” the appellate court wrote.

The decision noted that Buchas, who was 41 at the time of the 2020 offense, said in a presentence interview that his victim had been “super aggressive sexually” and “overly hormonal,” and claimed that she had made “several advances towards him.”

“Defendant then rationalized his repeated sexual encounters with the victim by claiming ‘that she was going to get her way one way or another and if it wasn’t (him), who else would she have gone to?,’” the appeals court noted.

Buchas then “doubled down” at the time of sentencing, prosecutors said, by insisting that he was “protecting” the victim and that perhaps this incident “did do her some good because now she won’t go out and screw up and try to do something stupid again.”

“Under these circumstances,” the appeals court wrote, “we discern no basis upon which to disturb the period of postrelease supervision imposed.”

Buchas, currently incarcerated in Great Meadow Correctional Facility, will not be eligible for parole until 2030.

In another decision released Thursday, the Third Department rejected a similar appeal from Paul Pike, who in February 2021 pleaded guilty to firstdegree vehicular assault for causing a single-car crash on Route 50 in Saratoga County that resulted in multiple injuries, including to a 7-year-old boy. Pike was later to determined to have had several powerful narcotics in his system at the time of the crash.

As in Buchas’ appeal, the court determined that Pike’s waiver of appeal was invalid, but saw no reason to reduce his sentence of three to six years.