Medina man, 74, gets a year in county jail

ALBION – Orleans County Court Judge James Punch sentenced several drug criminals to either county jail or state prison today, including a 74-year-old Medina man.

Angel Gonzalez of Ricky Place pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth degree. He faced a maximum of 2 ½ years in state prison. His attorney, Nathan Pace, asked the judge to keep Gonzalez out of jail or prison due to his age and declining health.

Punch said he doesn’t like to use a defendant’s illness as a reason for avoiding jail. If a defendant is well enough to commit a crime, the judge said the defendant should be able to serve time behind bars.

Gonzalez admitted to selling hydrocodone, his prescribed medication for pain relief, to make money. He has a “disturbing criminal history,” Punch said.

“I don’t think probation is appropriate,” the judge said in handing down a sentence of one year in jail and one year of post-release supervision.

In other cases:

A former resident of West Park Street in Albion was sentenced to a year in state prison with a recommendation from Judge Punch for shock camp.

Tyriek Johnson, 26, now lives in Fairport. He is a first-time offender. He could have been sentenced to up to 9 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third and fifth degrees.

Johnson has his own business and has been respectful in court, his attorney Matthew Parrinello told the judge.

In a previous court appearance, Johnson said he was trying to sell cocaine in Albion on March 14, 2013. He said he was driving on Platt and Ingersoll streets, looking to sell the drug.

Johnson apologized to his family for getting into trouble with the law. He asked the judge for leniency.

“You were heavily involved in the drug trade around here,” Punch told Johnson. “You need to learn some discipline. You made the community a worse place by spreading these toxic substances around here.”

Michael Nellist, 35, of East Center Street in Medina was sentenced to the maximum 1 ½ years in state prison for selling marijuana. He has prior drug and driving while intoxicated charges, the District Attorney’s Office noted.

Nellist has twice been on probation. He was also ordered to pay $1,020 in restitution to the Orleans County Major Felony Crime task Force, money it used for drug buys.

“You have a long record,” Punch said. “You’ve been given breaks in the past but did not take advantage of them.”

A Rochester man was sentenced to three years in state prison. Luke Lawhorn, 27, was arrested on March 6 following a year-long investigation in the sale and distribution of crack cocaine from Rochester to Orleans County.

Lawhorn was only days away from graduating from the Monroe County Drug Court when he was arrested in March.

He apologized to his family and to the community during his sentencing today.

The district attorney requested state prison for Lawhorn, who continued to sell drugs even while in Drug Court, Cardone said.

The judge also ordered Lawhorn to pay back $480 to the Task Force.

A Medina resident was sentenced to 2 to 4 years in state prison for burglary. Levy Hill, 42, admitted he used a brick to break a window at the Kwik Fill in Medina on Sept. 7, 2013. After he broke the window, he reached his hand in and grabbed some merchandise from the business on Pearl Street.

He is a second felony offender. He was also ordered to pay $1,353 in restitution.

ALBION – A Batavia man admitted in Orleans County Court that he had sex with a 14-year-old girl on Dec. 28, 2013.

Christopher Bucci, 35, of Galloway Road pleaded guilty to attempted rape in the second degree. The crime carries a maximum sentence of 1 ½ to 4 years in state prison.

Bucci will be sentenced at 2 p.m. on Jan. 5.

In another case in County Court today, Debra Unell, 52, of Medina pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, which carries a maximum sentence of 2 ½ years in state.

She admitted in court to trying to sell cocaine in Medina. She will be sentenced at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 22.

Unit operates out of DA’s office, which then prosecutes

ALBION – An attorney for an Albion man facing numerous drug charges is questioning whether his due process rights have been violated because he was arrested by a task force that operates out of the District Attorney’s Office, which is now prosecuting him.

Shirley Gorman represents Joseph James, an inmate in the county jail. James, 33, was arrested along with 15 others on April 1 following a six-month investigation into the sale and distribution of illegal drugs in the village of Albion, the Orleans County Major Felony Crime Task Force reported.

Gorman says the Task Force in Orleans differs from those in other counties, which operate outside of the DA’s Office as independent units. Gorman made her statements in court on Monday during an appearance with James.

“My position is the Drug Task Force violates due process and a fair trial,” she told Orleans County Court Judge James Punch. He set a hearing for Nov. 5 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on that and other issues raised by Gorman.

“This would be legally unprecedented,” Punch told her in court on Monday.

The Task Force works under the supervision of the DA’s Office, but the Task Force has independence is investigating its cases, First Assistant DA Susan Howard told the judge.

The Task Force includes officers from the Holley, Albion and Medina police departments, as well as the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department. A board of directors oversees the Task Force. They include the three village mayors, county legislators and law enforcement officials.

Howard said the arrests by task force members actually come from one of the village police departments or the Sheriff’s Department.

In other counties, the DA’s Office will work with a task force after the charges have been brought, but not while a case is being developed, Gorman said.

“The DA’s Office is creating the crime,” Gorman said. “It’s not the action of a police department. It’s a task force run by the DA’s Office.”

She also alleged prosecutorial misconduct because the confidential informant in the case against James was observed on tape telling a police officer, “I have to tell you I used some.” Gorman said the informant ingested cocaine without any apparent repercussions from the task force or DA’s Office.

Howard said the informants often will ingest materials that resemble illegal drugs, but aren’t necessarily cocaine or another narcotic.

She noted the office willingly turned over videos to Gorman.

“We’re not trying to hide anything,” Howard responded in court.

Punch said he wants to hear more on the informant’s actions as well as other issues raised by Gorman.

“All of these things need to be developed at the hearing,” he said.

ALBION – A Rochester man who admitted he brought heroin to Albion last November with the intent to sell it was sentenced today to 5 years in state prison, plus three years of post-release supervision.

Terry Holmes, 32, pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. As a second felony offender, he faced a maximum 3 ½ to 9 years in state prison.

Holmes and another Rochester man were arrested in November after a vehicle stop at 167 South Main St.

In other cases in county court:

A Holley man admitted to aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Enrique Fierro, 34, was charged on May 17 after a traffic stop at 1:30 a.m. on Route 31 in the town of Murray. He faces a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years in state prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 1.

Melissa A. Warren, 28, admitted she had cocaine on March 5 with the intent to sell it. The former Albion resident now lives in Batavia.

She pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree and faces a maximum sentence of up to 2 ½ years in state prison when she is sentenced on Dec. 22.

Cheryl A. Poole, 51, of Carlton also pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree. She admitted she had prescription medication that was a controlled substance. She said she sold it from her home on March 13.

As a second felony offender she faces a maximum of 1 ½ to 4 years in state prison.

Stephen W. Miles, 51, admitted he had a prescription narcotic, tramadol, and intended to sell it on March 26 from his room in Albion at 175 North Main St., Room No. 12.

He pleaded guilty to CPCS in the 5th degree and faces a maximum sentence to 2 ½ years in state prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 22.

A Holley man was sentenced to jail for a year after violating probation. Chester Sherman, 55, was charged with felony driving while intoxicated in Genesee County in 2011.

He has failed to report to probation appointments, driven without a license, registered a motorcycle without telling probation and has been observed drinking alcohol, Orleans County Court Judge James Punch said.

Sherman will serve an intermittent sentence, reporting to the jail at 9 a.m. Sundays and leaving at 6 p.m. on Mondays for the next year.

ALBION – Frederick Miller has been found guilty of second-degree murder for killing his girlfriend, Rachel Miller, on March 4, 2013. He faces 25 years to life in prison.

Jurors reached the verdict early this afternoon after beginning deliberations at about 11 a.m.

The attorney for Frederick Miller, 63, offered a defense of “extreme emotional disturbance.” Robert King, the defense lawyer, said Miller wasn’t himself in the months leading up the crime due to a job loss, his mother’s serious illness and a deteriorating relationship with Rachel, his live-in girlfriend.

But District Attorney Joe Cardone told the jurors that Mr. Miller wasn’t suffering from extreme emotional disturbance.

“It was about his extreme arrogance, it was about his extreme selfishness, it was about his extreme narcissism and his extreme need to have control of his life and Rachel Miller,” Cardone told jurors during his closing statement this morning.

Miller is being held without bail and sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 8.

Frederick Miller

ALBION – Jurors are deliberating whether Frederick Miller will be convicted of second-degree murder or a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter in the death of his girlfriend Rachel Miller.

Jurors began deliberations at about 10:50 a.m. following closing summations from District Attorney Joseph Cardone and Miller’s defense attorney, Robert King.

Miller admitted in court on Tuesday that he killed his live-in girlfriend. However, his attorney contends it wasn’t murder because Miller was suffering from an “extreme emotional disturbance” due to the loss of work, the serious illness of his mother and “a relationship that was falling apart.”

While Rachel Miller, then 53, was getting ready for work on March 4, 2013 at their Oak Orchard River Road home, Miller went into the bathroom and stabbed her in the neck with scissors. He then stabbed her in the torso and in the back.

She fled the house. Mr. Miller, then 61, stayed inside, but then went outside and found Rachel lying down in the snow. He snapped off a metal “Posted” sign and beat her with it.

Miller’s actions – the multiple stab wounds – are consistent with “snapping,” his attorney said.

“What happened to her is horrible,” King told jurors this morning. “It was a great tragedy. It wasn’t a murder. He was acting under extreme emotional disturbance.”

King cited the testimony of the medical examiner who said he had never seen a murder with a sign post. Very few deaths are caused from stab wounds from scissors, King said today.

He held up the scissors and the sign post for the jury to see.

“These are not murder weapons,” he said. “Any reasonable person knows this is not how you kill someone. These are what was in front of Fred Miller when his world came crashing down.”

Cardone urged the jury to return a conviction of second-degree murder, which carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Miller wasn’t emotionally disturbed, Cardone said.

“This case is entirely about control,” the DA said. “It is entirely about maniplulation.”

Miller was angry when Rachel wanted to spend Easter in Georgia with family, with Miller left behind. She angered him when she brought home baby chicks on March 3, the day before she was killed. And Miller testified he was mad when she took a long shower that morning.

“It wasn’t about extreme emotional disturbance,” Cardone said. “It was about his extreme arrogance, it was about his extreme selfishness, it was about his extreme narcissism and his extreme need to have control of his life and Rachel Miller.”

Miller twice made the choice to murder Rachel, first by stabbing her with scissors and then by beating her with the sign, Cardone said.

“He killed her twice,” Cardone said.

Miller then left Rachel lying in the snow, without a shirt, for the world to discover. She was found by a school bus driver.

“He stayed in the house and left her out there as a trophy,” Cardone said.

Miller refused to be examined by a psychiatrist. His attorney said Miller didn’t want to tell the worst day of his life to a stranger. Miller was honest with the jury on Tuesday, in reliving that day and sharing his financial woes and other disappointments, King said.

“He told you what went through his mind and how terribly sick he was,” King told the jury.

Cardone said Miller killed Rachel to have “the last word.” But now the jury gets a chance to speak, the DA said.

“Ladies and gentleman you have the last word,” he said. “You have the responsibility to find him guilty of murder.”

ALBION – A former Medina resident was sentenced to three years in state prison today for attempted sexual abuse in the first degree.

Patrick E. Sewar, 23, is a former resident on Knowlesville Road. He most recently has been living at the Holley Hotel.

He admitted in court to inappropriate touching with a 7-year-old girl. He did not have sex with the girl, according to court officials.

He also faces charges in Genesee County for allegedly molesting another child at Darien Lake on June 24, 2013.

Orleans County Court Judge James Punch sentenced Sewar to three years in state prison, plus another 10 years of post-release supervision.

Two other people were sentenced today in court.

Brigitte Lutsch, 20, of Brockport was sentenced to a year in state prison after violating the terms of Drug Court.

Lutsch admitted in a previous court appearance that she helped sell cocaine in Albion on Oct. 6. She allegedly drove a drug dealer to Albion. She said she was aware cocaine was in her vehicle and that the drug was to be sold.

She faced a maximum of 2 ½ years in state prison for criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree. However, she was allowed to enter Drug Court. If she successfully completed Drug Court the charge would have been reduced to a misdemeanor, but she didn’t meet the terms of the program.

A Hamlin woman was sentenced to six months in county jail for attempted burglary in the second degree after she allegedly stole about $1,400 from a Kendall residence last Oct. 23.

Melissa Thomas, a resident of Orleans-Monroe County Line Road, also was sentenced to five years Probation after she is released from jail.

Miller faces 25 years in state prison if convicted

Frederick Miller

ALBION – A murder trial that has been delayed three times will finally begin on Tuesday with jury selection scheduled to start at 10 a.m. at the Orleans County Courthouse.

Frederick Miller, 62, is accused of bludgeoning and stabbing Rachel Miller several times, causing her death on March 4, 2013. If convicted of second-degree murder, he could be sentenced to 25 years in state prison.

The trial was first delayed when Miller switched attorneys from the public defender to Robert King of Rochester. It was delayed again when King in March filed paperwork for a psychiatric defense, claiming Miller subjected to emotional abuse by his live-in girlfriend.

But King withdrew that defense when Miller refused to meet with a psychiatrist. Orleans County Court Judge James Punch on April 28 said he was forced to preclude expert psychiatric testimony because Miller refused to cooperate.

The trial was set to start on May 12, but was again pushed back. King, the defense lawyer, filed a motion to review evidence that District Attorney Joe Cardone sought to add to the prosecution’s case. Cardone filed an amended indictment and King requested time to explore the evidence and alleged proof.

Orleans County Court Judge James Punch opted on May 12 to delay the trial so King would have time to file a motion about the amended indictment.

Rachel Miller, 53, died of blunt force trauma combined with multiple stab wounds on March 4, 2013. The couple allegedly had a fight at a home they shared on Oak Orchard River Road, according to the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department.

ALBION – A Medina woman was sentenced to 2 years in state prison today after she pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.

Serina Winters admitted in court on March 3 that she had prescription narcotics and gave them to her estranged husband. Winters, 37, of 909 Church St., Apt. 1 faced numerous drug charges but those charges were dropped as part of a plea deal when she plead guilty to CPCS in the fifth degree, which has a maximum sentence of 2 ½ years in state prison.

“You have a horrible record,” Judge James Punch told Winters during sentencing this afternoon. “You’re completely irresponsible. There is no consideration for any one but yourself.”

Winters will also have one year of post-release supervision when she is out of prison.

In another drug case in county court, Freddie Taylor of Rochester pleaded guilty to criminal possession of controlled substance in the fifth degree.

Taylor, 45, of 510 Mt. Read Blvd. was arrested on April 1 on several drug charges. He admitted in court today he had cocaine in Albion on Feb. 3.

As a second felony offender, Taylor faces a maximum sentence of 4 years in state prison. He will be sentenced on Nov. 24. Punch agreed to lower Taylor’s bail from $250,000 to $25,000 which Punch said is more in line with the charge.

ALBION – An Albion man was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in state prison for a burglary last August at Robinson’s Redemption in Albion.

Hayden Ettinger, 20, of East Academy Street pleaded guilty to attempted burglary in the third degree on June 2. He faced up to four years in state prison. His attorney requested Probation and no incarceration.

Genesee County Judge Robert Noonan gave Ettinger five years on Probation for a similar crime of breaking into a barn in Oakfield last October. Ettinger has been receiving treatment for a “horrendous drinking problem,” his attorney said.

Orleans County Court Judge James Punch said Ettinger committed multiple crimes, and breaking into other people’s property is a serious crime.

“I’m not going to sentence you to Probation,” Punch said. “I don’t think that appropriate.”

In other cases in County Court:

The judge set bail at $200,000 for a Holley resident charged with driving while intoxicated and numerous other offenses, including second-degree assault, second-degree vehicular assault, two counts of third-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment and operating a motor vehicle while ability impaired by drugs and alcohol.

William O. Kuyal, 54, was arrested on June 18 after a car accident on Route 237 and Powerline Road in the town of Clarendon. Kuyal allegedly drove through a stop sign while going westbound on Powerline Road, crossing into Route 237. Kuyal and three other people were injured in the crash.

Kuyal has an extensive criminal record, said Susan Howard, the assistant district attorney. She noted he has 25 prior arrests and 13 convictions.

Kuyal is represented by attorney Kevin McKain, who entered not guilty pleas on behalf of Kuyal and requested that bail be reduced “to a more palatable figure.” McKain said Kuyal fell asleep while driving and there was nothing intentional about the alleged crimes.

Punch kept bail at $200,000 for Kuyal, who is in Orleans County Jail.

“This is a whopper of a criminal record,” Punch said.

A New York City resident admitted he mailed prescription narcotics to his ex-wife, an inmate at the Albion Correctional Facility.

Juan J. Gonzalez could be sentenced to up to 2 ½ years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth degree. Gonzalez said he mailed the drugs to his ex-wife between Nov. 1 and Nov. 23.

He said he was paid for the buprenorphine, which he acquired without his own prescription.

Gonzalez has open charges against him in the Bronx and Puerto Rico. He is currently in the Orleans County Jail. Judge Punch set $250,000 bail for him. Gonzalez will be sentenced on Nov. 17.