As reported by Syracuse.com and the Post Standard, a young surgical resident has been sentenced to five years in a state prison after pleading guilty to second-degree assault felony and first-degree criminal contempt.
S.M., formerly a resident in a local hospital, was told by Onondaga County Court Judge Anthony Aloi, “You had a bright future. You seemingly threw all of that away because of your inability to control your emotions” and then advised the young man to “grow up.”
In July 2010, S.M., 29, used a baseball bat on a friend of his former girlfriend outside a home in the town of Clay. He was charged with assault in that incident.
Later, when he violated a court order to have no contact with the same ex-girlfriend, M.D., he was charged with criminal contempt.
Then, beginning with July 2010 and continuing through March 2011, there was a battery of charges for a series of domestic violence incidents that involved the former couple: S.M. made threatening phone calls to M.D., her home was vandalized twice and on one occasion there was an armed confrontation – with police officers – in M.D.’s home.
Before S.M.’s case went to trial he pleaded guilty to all the charges on January 30. His plea deal was that in exchange for the guilty plea he would be given five years of incarceration.
Defense attorney Paul Carey represented S.M. Though S.M. said nothing at his sentencing, Carey said that his client accepted full responsibility for his actions. However, Judge Aloi found Carey’s statement not to be completely true. Aloi said that based on the probation department’s report, prepared pre-sentencing, it was indicated that S.M. failed to lay blame on himself. Instead, it would appear to Aloi, S.M. blamed everyone else for his legal problems.
Specifically, and recounted by Aloi, S.M. laid blame on: his first defense lawyer for not “representing (him) well”, his ex-girlfriend “that was the subject of many of these criminal accusations”, the woman he assaulted and the court for making his “bail excessive.”
Aloi told S.M., “The only person you should blame is yourself” for practically ruining his own future in medicine because of his violent temperament.
Before his arrest on criminal charges, S.M. was a surgical resident at Upstate University Hospital. But due to the arrest – he lost his job.
The judge warned S.M. against acting on his jealousy with unrestrained violent acts and repeated, “You should blame yourself, your inability to control your jealous rages.” He also warned S.M. of future jail time if he didn’t heed the judge’s words.
Any further court order violations – specifically the order of continued physical distance from M.D. through 2025 – would result in consecutive penalties in prison.
If you are facing charges of domestic violence the most qualified type of lawyer to represent you would be one in the family law area. Contact a family law attorney with the experience to handle this type of case.