A career criminal looking to turn his life around got that chance in Niagara County Court on Thursday.
Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza told Kenneth Longmire she would personally supervise his rehabilitation efforts.
“I’m going to make you my pet project,” she told Longmire.
The judge rejected a recommendation that Longmire do jail time for his guilty plea to a single count of petit larceny. The guilty plea was part of a plea deal for Longmire who had been charged with third-degree burglary in connection with a break-in at the Wintergarden on Aug. 3, 2006.
Instead, Sperrazza granted Longmire a conditional discharge based on his assistance to prosecutors in a Falls murder case, his efforts to undergo drug and alcohol abuse treatment and his employment with a local hotel.
Longmire will return to court on Dec. 21 for a judicial compliance hearing. Sperrazza told him that will be her chance to make sure he is getting help and has a job.
“Staying in treatment and staying employed, those are key,” the judge said. “Otherwise you violate the terms of the conditional discharge and I can sentence you to jail.”
Longmire told the judge he was spending his available time working and in treatment and admitted helping prosecutors had not won him any friends on the streets of the Falls.
“My name was in the paper,” he said. “I was kind of like an outcast with people I knew, but that’s OK.”
Assistant District Attorney Lisa Baehre told Sperrazza before the sentencing that Longmire had testified in the recently concluded murder trial of Robert Johnson. Johnson was convicted on Oct. 5 on charges of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the slaying of his wife Ahkenya.
Longmire testified that Johnson had solicited him to “cut up his wife’s face” and “assault her and make it look like a robbery.”
Longmire’s attorney said Johnson’s defense counsel told him, “Mr. Longmire’s testimony swung the case for the people.”
Courts
COURTS: Career criminal gets a chance
Kenneth Longmire given conditional discharge in burglary case
- Courts
-
-
Davis will not seek Murphy removal
Lawyers for accused killer Matthew “Bones” Davis say their client will not ask to have Niagara County Court Judge Matthew J. Murphy III removed from his case.
-
Man charged in Casal attack says Falls boxer was the aggressor
An assault charge filed against a Town of Niagara man accused of attacking Niagara Falls boxer Nick Casal is heading to the grand jury.
-
Falls teen reaches agreement in shooting death of student
A Niagara Falls teenager has accepted a plea agreement in the shooting death of a Niagara University student who was killed in a “robbery gone bad” late last year.
-
Judge may step down in murder case
Lawyers for accused killer Matthew "Bones" Davis will have 10 days to decide whether or not they will ask Niagara County Court Judge Matthew J. Murphy III to step down from the case.
-
NT drug dealer gets 92-month sentence
The North Tonawanda man guilty of helping run a cocaine ring stretching from the Town of Tonawanda to Niagara Falls will spend nearly the next eight years behind bars.
-
Lewiston jet boat suit tossed
The second of two lawsuits brought against the Village of Lewiston and Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours has been dismissed.
-
Matthew Davis arraigned in Bradberry homicide case
When Robert Bradberry walked into a Niagara County courtroom Tuesday afternoon, he was surprised by the man he saw in shackles and an orange jumpsuit.
-
Sixth delay granted in Toohey case
Sentencing in federal court for a disbarred Lewiston lawyer has now been postponed for the sixth time.
-
Ten-year term for former Falls sub who had sex with a student
His victim’s mother called him “a monster.”
She also told John Summerson, that if should ever “have children”, she hoped “he never has to feel what I feel.” -
Former coroner, fire chief fined, to perform community service
Former Fourth District Coroner Russell Jackman and soon-to-be-former Cambria Volunteer Fire Co. Chief Vincent Salerno will each pay a fine totaling $1,000 and perform 100 hours of community service for their improper handling of human remains after a traffic fatality last month.
- More Courts Headlines
-
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
Raw Video: Fight Erupts in Ukrainian Parliament
Texan Ranchers Remain Wary of Drought
Raw Video: Soldiers Plant Flags at Arlington
NJ Official: NYPD Muslim Surveillance Legal
Police: Man Arrested in Etan Patz Disappearance
Hurricane Forecast: 15 Named Storms Expected
NYC Protests: the Revolution Will Be Scripted
Chicago U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald Resigns
Neighbors of Etan Patz's Suspect: It's Shocking
Search Intensifies for Missing Louisiana Woman
Bloomberg: Man Implicates Self in Etan Patz Case
NYPD: Person Implicated in Etan Patz Death
Raw Video: Fire on Nuke-powered Sub in Maine
Illegal Burn Suspected in Nevada Fire
Obama: 'We've Got More Work to Do'
Astrologers Predict Outcome of Presidential Race
Gulf Fishermen Reel From Seafood Troubles
Stuntman Makes Skydive Without Parachute in UK
