Sentence vacated; man goes to jail
A Rochester man who had a Jefferson County Court conviction for stabbing another man vacated by an appellate court was ordered returned to state prison Thursday — a stay that will amount to only a few days at most.
Rajsheem L. Richardson, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted assault for his role in a 2007 stabbing at the since-closed Club Renaissance on Route 3 in the town of LeRay. He was sentenced then to 11/2 to 3 years in prison, which essentially was equal to the amount of time he already has served.
He admitted Thursday that he tried to seriously injure Arthur L. Hayes III on April 24, 2007, at the nightclub. It had been alleged that a knife was used to stab Mr. Hayes, a Fort Drum soldier who suffered an injury that required open-heart surgery.
Mr. Richardson originally pleaded guilty in January 2008 to first-degree assault. He had entered his plea using an Alford plea, meaning he did not admit to the underlying facts in the case, but was pleading guilty to avoid the risk of being convicted of a more serious offense at trial. He was sentenced in February 2008 to five years in prison, despite maintaining his innocence at sentencing.
He appealed the conviction to the state Appellate Division, Fourth Department, arguing, among other things, that there was not enough evidence on record to support his guilt. The appellate court agreed, stating, among other things, that there were three witness statements taken in the case and each tended to point more toward Mr. Richardson's innocence than his guilt.
Given the ruling, Mr. Richardson asked Judge Kim H. Martusewicz to review the grand jury minutes in the case and rule whether the evidence within was sufficient to support a charge of second-degree attempted murder, the top count in an indictment handed up in June 2007. Judge Martusewicz said that upon his review, he was dismissing the count "in the interest of justice."
Mr. Richardson then agreed to plead guilty to an amended count of second-degree attempted assault. Having been convicted in County Court in 2006 on a cocaine-possession charge and sentenced to a year in jail, he was sentenced Thursday as a second-felony offender.
However, because he already has spent more than three years in custody, or more than the maximum amount called for in his indeterminate sentence of 11/2 to 3 years, he will be released soon. It was unclear Thursday whether he would have to return to prison before being released from Department of Correctional Services custody, or if his release could be achieved directly from the Metro-Jefferson Public Safety Building. Judge Martusewicz said that decision would be up to state officials.
