GUILFORD – A felony hearing became the scene of prolonged legal debate Tuesday night in the Town of Guilford Court, with the judge reversing a decision that would have led to the release of two defendants. During the hearing, prosecutors also admitted to the possible accidental loss of evidence, one defense attorney failed to show up and another called the proceedings “just shy of outrageous.”
The Chenango County Sheriff’s Office arrested six people Feb. 9 and charged four of them – 27-year-old Richard Tyler, 20-year-old Shawndell Johnson, 33-year-old Semajdanyell Baker and 34-year-old Asia Owens, all of Syracuse – with third degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a B class felony.
Detective Kevin Powell testified he had been involved in the investigation for the past three months and that police were specifically targeting Tyler, who was the only defendant mentioned by name in the search warrant.
“We had a warrant signed by the judge to search Richard Tyler and any vehicle he was in,” said Powell. Both Powell and Lt. Richard Cobb testified that they did not previously know any of the defendants inside the vehicle prior to their arrest, except for Tyler.
Police testified they pulled over a car in which Tyler was a passenger at around 9 p.m. in the Town of Norwich’s South Plaza. Cobb said since police already had a warrant to search the vehicle, officers drove it back to the sheriff’s office. He testified they uncovered a digital scale, plastic baggies and two more bags of crack cocaine, each containing about $100 of the drug.
Under cross examination by Defense Attorney Linden D. Summers, Cobb said they discovered the drugs out of plain view and tucked under a seat. Cobb also testified that about 12 hours after the stop and following consultation with the District Attorney’s Office, police decided to charge all the car’s occupants with a B class felony based on the law of “automobile presumption.” Cobb said the law allows police to charge all occupants with possession of any illegal substance located in the vehicle.
Chenango County Sheriff Ernest R. Cutting said they believe the defendants were transporting drugs from Syracuse to Norwich.
Last night’s hearing began at about 7:45 p.m. with Assistant District Attorney Michael Ferrarese agreeing to lower the $10,000 cash bail on Owens to $1,500. Her defense attorney, Michael A. Garzo Jr., said his client had no previous criminal record and offered reassurances to the court from family members that Owens would comply with any terms set forth by Guilford Judge David Daniels.
The judge said he would reschedule Baker’s hearing after her appointed attorney, Frank Revoir Jr., failed to appear on her behalf. In a telephone call with other defense attorneys, Revoir relayed to the court he had received no notification of a hearing or that he had been assigned as Baker’s defense attorney.
Defendants Tyler and Johnson appeared together. Summers, who represents Johnson, asked the prosecution to produce all notes prepared by any testifying officers in last night’s hearing.
Ferrarese at first responded to the request by telling the defense he didn’t have the documents with him, but after Judge Daniels threatened not to proceed with the case, he clarified the documents and photographs prepared by Detective Powell on his office computer may have been lost due to a computer error.
Cobb later testified Chenango County technology personnel had been attempting to repair and retrieve the materials from Powell’s computer since Saturday, to no avail.
Summers and Public Defend er Kayphet Mavady, Tyler’s appointed attorney, criticized the prosecution for offering mixed signals on whether or not they possessed materials and asked the court to delay the hearing.
“Apparently there are no hand-written notes and the computer has crashed. What a crashed computer is, I’m not certain,” said Summers, who demanded the ADA produce all documents prepared by Powell and Cobb. Ferrarese told the court that even if he had such materials, he still wasn’t required to give them to the defense for the hearing.
“They ought to have known they didn’t possess them from the beginning,” said Summers.
The presentations by Summers and Mavady caused Judge Daniels to declare to the ADA, “You leave me with no alternative except to delay.”
The remark caused an uproar of legal debates shouted between prosecutors, the judge and the defense attorneys.
“No judge, that’s not the law. If I don’t possess them, I’m not obligated to present it,” said Ferrarese. The ADA said due to a looming legal deadline in the law concerning felony hearings, the Sheriff’s Office would be forced to release the two defendants without bail if the case was postponed.
Daniels seemed to retract his decision by saying, “I don’t want these men to go free.”
Unable to come to a decision, the hearing was postponed for several minutes so Daniels and Guilford Town Judge Joan Kline could contact the emergency resource number for the New York State Magistrates Association. The 24-hour hotline provides legal advice and clarifications to town judges across the state. Following a conference on the matter with attorneys, court resumed and the judge denied the defense’s request for the materials.
Following the hearing, Daniels found cause to submit the case to a Chenango County grand jury at just past 10 p.m. and remanded Tyler and Johnson to the Chenango County Correctional Facility in lieu of $30,000 cash bail.