The Citizen

AUBURN - Lee Williams clasped his hands behind his back and grasped a tissue a court attendant had handed him.

The domestic violence defendant didn't use the tissue, but he was emotional Tuesday as he was sentenced to an agreed-upon five years in state prison for burglary and assault charges.

The victim of his crime told Cayuga County Judge Mark Fandrich she had forgiven him and hoped that treatment in state prison would change his behavior.

“I have forgiven him for everything that's happened,” she said. “My kids will be without their dad. He will be without his freedom. I will be without my husband.”

Williams, 34, of Auburn, looked directly at his victim as he told the court he was sorry for violating an Auburn City Court order of protection by entering her residence Sept. 27, assaulting her with a knife and cutting her hair with scissors. He also damaged her computer and stole her public benefit card.

All his sentences for the felony charges of second-degree burglary, second-degree assault and three counts of first-degree criminal contempt will run at the same time.

Fandrich issued an order of protection that Williams is not to harass, annoy or threaten the victim.

Under state law, police are mandated to make domestic violence arrests when a felony has been committed against a member of the same family or household or an order of protection has been violated.

Also in court:

€ Steven Birtwell, 38, was sentenced to 1 1/2 to three years in state prison for the felony crime of fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. Birtwell went at 4 a.m. to the A Plus convenience store at 46 E. Genesee St. on Feb. 2. With his hand stuffed in his pocket to look like a gun, he told the clerk “this is the stickup” to try to get more money for crack cocaine.

He has been diagnosed with mental illness and chemical addiction, so Fandrich said he would note those conditions in his incarceration order.

Birtwell served local jail time for a prior felony related to drug dealing for more powerful dealers in exchange for a personal share.

Birtwell told Fandrich prison would interrupt his plans of getting married and for a child on the way, but Fandrich told him: “Prison interrupts a lot of things.”

- John Grant, 37, of Auburn, rejected a plea bargain offer from the district attorney's office to plead guilty to the felony of second-degree attempted assault with the possibility of a probation sentence.

He faces charges he released a pit bull on Auburn police officers Thanksgiving night last year and advanced on them as the officers responded to concerns he was a danger to himself. Motions in his case are due to be argued May 16.

- Alvin McAlpine, 36, of Syracuse, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property. McAlpine has been held for several months in the Monroe County Jail in Pennsylvania on pending felony charges of retail theft. His sentence of one year in Cayuga County Jail will run consecutively to anything he is sentenced to in Pennsylvania.

- James Ripley, 40, of Moravia, entered a not guilty plea to the felony charge of first-degree filing a false instrument. Ripley is accused of lying on a 2001 job application to work as a janitor in the Moravia School District that he did not have any criminal convictions. Ripley has a a sexual misconduct conviction from 1975, a reckless endangerment charge from 1982 and a felony driving while intoxicated conviction from 1986.

Ripley was initially arrested last year on charges he threatened a middle schooler. Motion arguments are scheduled for June 13.

- Sonny Smith, 20, with a last known address of 129 Melone Village, Auburn, was sentenced to five years probation and four months of weekend work release at the Cayuga County Jail for the felony charge of fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. The work release runs 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Smith sold crack cocaine to a police informant Nov. 20, 2004.

- A pair of handcuffs in the case of Thernell Smith, 37, a state prisoner, are missing. Smith is accused of hitting an Auburn Correctional Facility correction officer in the face with the dangling end of a pair of handcuffs as he was being returned to his special housing unit cell from a shower Oct. 19, 2003.

Smith is also accused of injuring another officer trying to assist the first injured officer. The handcuffs are no longer in evidence, and either were destroyed or returned to use, Chief Assistant District Attorney Jon Budelmann said.

Defense attorney Norm Chirco addressed other issues in his motion arguments, including obtaining medical reports from the officers Smith is accused of assaulting. The case is moving ahead to a trial later this year.

- Patrick Sweeting, 30, of 26 Grant St., Auburn, entered a not guilt plea to felony and misdemeanor charges related to the accusation he punched a police officer in February and made threatening calls to a Pulaski Street resident in violation of an order of protection. Motion arguments are set to be argued June 13.

- Motion arguments in the case of Richard Walrad, 43, of 5 Howard St., Auburn, were rescheduled for May 23. Walrad has pleaded not guilty to the felony charges of two counts of second-degree attempted murder, second-degree attempted arson and three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment related to an Oct. 13 domestic incident. He is accused of dousing himself, his former girlfriend and her son with gasoline when the ex-girlfriend came to Walrad's residence to retrieve some belongings a month after she moved out.

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net