AUBURN -- Cayuga County Judge Thomas Leone asked a defendant if he was listening to his words of wisdom.

James Scott, 23, of 144 VanAnden St., Auburn, verbally fumbled in Cayuga County Court Thursday before saying that he couldn't hear the judge.

Leone tried a second time to impart to Scott that his two consecutive years in Cayuga County Jail were an opportunity for him -- because of his recently born son -- to listen to others and change the course of a criminal history dating back to 1991 juvenile actions.

"I'm just trying to hit you over your head a little bit," Leone said. " ... If you don't do it for yourself, at least do it for your son."

Scott's sentencing for the two misdemeanor crimes of false personation and petit larceny had been rescheduled so he could be out of custody when his girlfriend gave birth. He was sentenced to one year of local time for each misdemeanor.

Scott gave a false name to an Auburn Police Department detective interviewing him after he rode along with two others who burglarized Jake's Liquor Store July 2, and he was an accomplice in the burglary because he informed his two codefendants that a store clerk witnessed their smash-and-grab of three liquor bottles.

Read the full report in Friday's edition of The CItizen.