Appellate Court rejects claims in two Steuben County cases

A state court has denied the appeal of a man who was found guilty of multiple felony crimes in Steuben County in 2015. Thomas Sharp was convicted of grand larceny, three counts of offering a false instrument for filing and welfare fraud. In response to the jury’s request for a read back of the “full testimony” of the only defense witness, the stenographer did not read the portions of the transcript in which the witness invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Sharp's attorney said that was an error and the convictions should be tossed. The Appellate court disagreed; saying Sharp was not “seriously prejudiced.”

A man convicted of possessing drugs in Steuben County will not receive relief from an Appellate court. The attorney for 31-year-old Michael Irbys claimed that that his guilty plea was not knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently entered because, at the time of each plea, the county court did not advise him that he would be sentenced as a second felony offender. The Appellate court rejected that claim. Irby was arrested again last year during drug raids in Steuben County while on parole. He’s now serving an 8 year sentence at Auburn Correctional.