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Warren County Sheriff Larry J. Cleveland has submitted a purported computerized booking slip for Feb. 7, 2003, as part of a Feb. 3 sworn affidavit in his ongoing attempt to incarcerate North Country Gazette publisher June Maxam.
Thing is, according to various corrections officers of the Warren County Sheriff's Department, the jail didn't begin computerizing bookings until last year---TWO YEARS after Maxam was discharged. Maxam says the fact alone indicates that the document has been fabricated.
Three years Maxam was released from Warren County Jail after serving 180 days to satisfy a judgment of conviction entered against her in Warren County Court on July 7, 2000, the sheriff is claiming that she didn't finish her sentence and wants her incarcerated for another 100 days.
Cleveland submitted an unsworn memo to Warren County Court Judge John S. Hall on Jan. 12, demanding Maxam's incarceration for 100 days. It has since been learned, by Cleveland's own admission, that the impetus for his belated claim is due to a cardboard sign the publisher has on her property.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/020406JailOrder.html
Maxam has now shown that Cleveland's first paperwork to the court was false.
It's also been shown that he has apparently intentionally omitted the crucial and telling commitment order signed by a state Supreme Court Judge for Feb. 7, 2003, clearly identifying the sentence, the charge and entry date.
Because of what Maxam says is a wholly fabricated booking slip and other provable false statements submitted to the court by Cleveland in addition to his refusal to present pertinent records and to present himself to the court for cross-examination, the publisher says Cleveland's claim against her must be immediately dismissed with prejudice. She says the court is legally obligated to submit Cleveland's actions and alleged falsifications to the Governor and Attorney General's office for investigation and possible prosecution, ultimately removing him from office.
The sentence, court, charge and other information on the alleged booking slip is false, Maxam says. Even the documents which Cleveland has submitted to the court contradict himself. A court imposed stay of the sentence was in effect for the charge for which Cleveland is claiming Maxam was incarcerated thus Maxam could not have been legally jailed on that charge while a court-imposed stay was in effect.
While Cleveland is claiming that Maxam was admitted to jail on Feb. 7, 2003 for a charge that was later reversed, vacated and ultimately dismissed, he has omitted from his statement to the court the crucial pertinent document---the court order signed by state Supreme Court Judge Richard Aulisi of Fulton County which committed Maxam to jail on Feb. 7, 2003 to serve a sentence for filing alleged false harassment complaints against Chestertown residents Eleanor and Donald Lambert.
Both Criminal Procedure Law and Corrections Law are specific that Maxam could not have been released from the jail until the commitment order was fulfilled and the sentence completed----which it was on April 30, 2003, or else she wouldn't have been released.
Therefore, by statutory law alone, Larry Cleveland has no legal basis on which to try to reincarcerate Maxam. Not only that, even by asserting his bogus claim, had he, as the chief administrative officer of the jail, allowed Maxam to be released early, he would be in violation of state law and she could not be prejudiced by his negligence.
Based on what Maxam says is a falsified booking slip and other information submitted to the court by Cleveland, Maxam has renewed her demand that a state investigation into the entire matter and the sheriff be initiated by the Governor's office by the appointment of a special prosecutor or by the state Commission of Investigation (SIC).
When Maxam tried to file a harassment complaint against the Lamberts in 1998, Cleveland refused to allow her to do so, saying that he had adopted a policy that she couldn't file a complaint against anyone, albeit such a policy is unconstitutional.
Maxam's attorney at the time advised her to file the complaint directly with the court which she did and immediately thereafter, Cleveland himself filed a felony complaint against Maxam, claiming that her complaint against Lamberts and another individual, Jay Becker, was false. However, those charges were never adjudicated and there was no court process which determined that those charges were false, only by Cleveland's say so. Cleveland also had his right hand man, John Shine, file a complaint against Maxam as well as Officer Tony Breen.
Following a trial in May, 2000 when no physical evidence was shown, the People withheld exculpatory evidence and it was revealed that a court clerk had filed false instruments against Maxam in order to obtain an indictment in the case, Maxam was convicted. Judge Jerry Scarano sentenced her to two nine-month terms to be served concurrently. She was acquitted of the third charge after it was shown in court that Jay Becker had lied in his statement. However, no perjury charges were brought against him and the court clerk, Carol Finamore of the Queensbury Town Court, was not charged for her filing of three false statements with the court.
After losing in the appeal process at the state level, Judge Aulisi ordered Maxam to surrender to the Warren County Jail on Feb. 7, 2003 too finish her sentence. As of that date, she had served 97 days of the 180 days due. In New York State, an inmate is credited with one third of the sentence for good behavior if there are no disciplinary actions. Thus, a sentence of 9 months or 270 days would be reduced by 90 days good time credit and would leave 180 days for the inmate to serve.
Criminal Procedure Law provides for commitment orders issued by the court such as Judge Aulisi's and says that when a defendant is committed to jail on a commitment of the court, the defendant must be detained until the sentence is completed. Therefore, by law, Maxam could not have been released by the jail prior to the sentence being completed. When she was released on April 30, 2003, she had complied with the order and the full sentence had been served.
Penal Law provides that once a defendant has been committed to jail to serve a determinate sentence, as in the publisher's case, the defendant cannot be released until the term of the sentence is served and to take it a step further, Section 500 of Corrections Law provides that the sheriff of each county has custody of the county jail and as the chief administrative officer, he cannot, without lawful authority, let any person out of jail who has been lawfully committed to his custody.
Bottom line---simple terms----Larry Cleveland's all wet in his claim that the publisher didn't complete her sentence and must be returned to jail.
Because Hall's notice to appear constitutes a restraint on Maxam's liberty, additional filings have been name by Maxam with the federal court where a habeas corpus was pending to vacate the county court convictions due to constitutional violations of Maxam.
In his sworn affidavit to the court, Cleveland claims that Maxam was committed to jail on Feb. 7, 2003, on a single misdemeanor charge from Warren County Court for 90 days with credit for time served and a release date of April 30, 2003.
Not only was there a stay in effect for the charge Cleveland lists, but he fails to list the other two charges of the case which was adjudicated in Queensbury Town Court, not county court. The sentence stated is wrong and even if it were correct, the release date would have been April 6, 2003, not April 30, 2003.
Maxam has presented a sworn affidavit to the court with the correct documentation including court orders and other records which show that Cleveland's claim is unfounded and in fact, false.
She has also submitted an application to the court for a subpoena duces tecum to force Cleveland to produce records which he is required by state law to maintain but which to date he has refused to produce.
Pursuant to Corrections Law, Cleveland is required to keep a daily record of the commitments and discharges of all prisoners delivered to his charge and that record MUST contain, among other criteria, the date of entrance, name, offense and term of sentence, how and when discharged. By law this is a public record and must be kept permanently. Although Maxam has specifically requested this record from Cleveland, he has refused to produce it and in fact, has refused to produce all discharge records pertaining to Maxam.
Cleveland is also required by Corrections Law to prepare a calculation of jail time credit which is then presented to the inmate in duplicate, signed by the corrections sergeant, for acceptance and signature. This calculation would also show the offense and term of sentence and how the time was calculated in order to determine the release date. To date, Cleveland has also refused to produce this record which is required to have been prepared and remain on file. It is a continuing, non-discretionary ministerial function obligation of Cleveland as the chief administrative officer of the jail.
The sheriff is also required to prepare and submit daily records to the state Commission of Corrections with the names of all inmates received into the facility, the counties where tried, the crimes of which convicted, the nature and duration of the sentences in addition to other information. Cleveland has also refused to produce those records as well as all admissions and discharge records required to be filed with the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
At a proceeding Wednesday, Feb. 8, Cleveland refused to submit himself to the court for cross-examination, Maxam was denied her right to address the matter or present witnesses.
Judge Hall reserved decision and said he would rule "in about a week".
Although the application for a subpoena duces tecum was noticed for Monday, Feb. 13, as of late Tuesday, Feb. 14, there was no indication that the court had ordered Cleveland to produce the relevant records.
Agencies which have jurisdiction in this matter to order an investigation or to conduct an investigation of Larry J. Cleveland are Gov. George E. Pataki, www.ny.gov/governor; the NYS Commission on Investigation commissioner@sic.state.ny.us , 59 Maiden Lane, NY, NY 10038, and the Public Integrity Unit of the NY Attorney General's office at 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271 2-14-06
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/011806FalseImprisonment.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/021006NoJailYet.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/020106InvestigateSheriff.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/020106NationalPress.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/021006FederalHabeas.html
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/012906DefenseFundOpened.html
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Country Gazette
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