PRESS RELEASE
FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT, DISTRICT ATTORNEY
DATE: MARCH 17, 2016
The Appellate Division, Third Department, has today unanimously affirmed the June 22, 2016 conviction of Tracy Setterlund upon his plea of guilty convicting him of the crime of operating a motor vehicle while ability impaired by drugs, “DWAI,” a class E felony.
On May 26, 2013, the defendant was stopped by police on Chapel Hill Road in the Town of Lloyd for failing to keep right. When he was stopped, police observed the indicia of intoxication and defendant subsequently failed five of the seven field sobriety tests which police administered. A blood test later revealed that he had a combination of drugs, including Hydrocodone and Oxycodone in his system.
In 2011, defendant, pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, pled guilty to DWAI as charged in a superior court information, admitted his prior DWI conviction and waived his right to appeal. He was subsequently sentenced by County Court (Williams, J.) to five years probation, his license was revoked and fines and fees were imposed. However, in 2014, the defendant violated his probation and County Court revoked defendant’s probationary sentence and imposed a prison term of one to three years to be served under parole supervision at the Willard State Prison Program with a three year conditional discharge that required him to install an ignition interlock device.
On appeal the defendant challenged the voluntary nature of his plea and the validity of his appeal waiver. The Appellate Division, Third Department, denied defendant’s appeal since it was not filed in a timely manner.
On appeal, the defendant is represented by Theodore J. Stein, Esq. of Woodstock, New York. Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.
