PRESS RELEASE
FROM: DISTRICT ATTORNEY HOLLEY CARNRIGHT
DATE: JUNE 30, 2016
The Appellate Division, Third Department has today unanimously affirmed the October 3, 2014 conviction of German A. Lobaton for the crime of burglary in the second degree, a class C violent felony.
Over the course of a four month period in 2013, the defendant, an Emergency Medical Technician and member of the Ellenville First Aid and Rescue Squad, responded to medical emergencies at three separate homes in Ellenville in the Town of Wawarsing. Shortly thereafter, and while the homes in question were unoccupied, because the occupants had been taken to the hospital, the defendant returned to these premises, reentered them and stole numerous items of personal property, consisting mostly of electronic devices, jewelry, handguns and rifles. When police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s home, most of the stolen property was found.
The defendant pled guilty to burglary in the second degree in full satisfaction of a 12 count indictment in the Ulster County Court and at that time, waived the right to appeal his conviction and sentence. On October 3, 2014, the defendant was sentenced by County Court Judge Donald A. Williams to the agreed upon term of imprisonment of 13 years in State prison followed by five years of postrelease supervision.
On appeal to the Appellate Division, Third Department, the defendant argued that his plea was not knowing, intelligent and voluntary and that his sentence was unduly harsh and excessive. The reviewing court, however, found both claims unpreserved for appellate review.
On appeal, the defendant is represented by Michael C. Ross, Esq. of Bloomingburg, New York. Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.