AUBURN - A Lyons man was sentenced in Cayuga County Court Tuesday to five years in prison and two years of post-release supervision after pleading guilty to multiple drug and weapons charges.

Maurice Southall, 27, of Lyons, was sentenced on four counts of criminal possession of narcotics and two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, both Class-B felonies. He was also sentenced on misdemeanor charges of weapons possession and drug use.

Southall was arrested in November 2006 at the Cato Hotel. Police seized an ounce of cocaine as well as a loaded 12-gauge shotgun and other paraphernalia after a search, Chief Assistant District Attorney Jon Budelmann said.

Southall's indictment also included charges connected to separate drug sales in Weedsport and Montezuma.

Arrested with Southall was Marshall Miller, who pleaded guilty in March to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and two or three years of post-release supervision.

Southall initially pleaded not guilty in June, but admitted to the charges on the opening day of his trial. He was facing up to 27 years in prison.

Before sentencing, Budelmann requested the maximum punishment, saying that an out-of-town drug dealer moving large amounts of cocaine with a shotgun is a “dangerous mix.”

But defense attorney Douglas Bates said Tuesday that it would be “unfair” to give a harsher sentence, since it was never Southall's desire to go to trial. The defendant wrote a letter to Cayuga County Court Judge Thomas Leone expressing this before his trial, Bates said.

Southall issued an apologetic statement before receiving his sentence from Cayuga County Surrogate Judge Mark Fandrich, saying he wished to “get on with (his) life.”

Also in court:

€ Judge Fandrich granted a request by Paul Oattes, 32, whose last known address is 16 N. Fulton St. Apt. 1, Auburn, for a new attorney. Oattes admitted to selling crack cocaine to a police informant in April. Oattes' former attorney, David Elkovitch, said in court Tuesday that Oattes was promised the minimum sentence of 3.5 years in jail and admittance to state prison drug treatment program from the district attorney for a guilty plea.

However, Oattes claimed that he was coerced into the plea, and that Elkovitch “scared” him into waiving his preliminary hearing by telling him that he could receive up to 15 years if he did not.

While Judge Fandrich said he did not see any evidence of coercion in the case, noting that Oattes was given the minimum sentence for the charges, he did allow Oattes new representation.

€ A fugitive warrant for Gale Raponi, 51, of 13695 Route 38, Martville, was withdrawn after he reported to Rhode Island authorities on Sept. 20 and posted a $10,000 bond. He faces charges in Rhode Island of leaving the scene of an accident and failure to appear for an arraignment in relation to a severe 1990 crash.

€ Hector Martinez, 24, an inmate at the Attica Correctional Facility, pleaded not guilty through an interpreter to possession of dangerous contraband in the first degree, a felony. Corrections officers allege that a fellow inmate passed Martinez a weapon after using it to stab a different inmate.

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.