Appellate court rules Steuben County court sentence was "unduly harsh and severe"

In 2016, a Rochester man was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for burglarizing an RV at Wilkins RV in Bath. David A. Brown, age 49, appealed and received a partial victory. The New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department issued a five page ruling Friday that called the sentence "unduly harsh and severe."
The court wrote: 

Appeal from a judgment of the Steuben County Court (Mathew K. McCarthy, A.J.), rendered June 27, 2016. The judgment convicted defendant, upon a jury verdict, of burglary in the third degree (three counts), criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree, criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree and possession of burglar’s tools. It is hereby ORDERED that the judgment so appealed from is unanimously modified as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice by vacating the finding that defendant is a persistent felony offender, reducing the sentences imposed for burglary in the third degree under counts one, four, and five of the indictment to indeterminate terms of incarceration of 3½ to 7 years, reducing the sentence imposed for criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree under count two of the indictment to an indeterminate term of incarceration of 3½ to 7 years, reducing the sentence imposed for criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree under count six of the indictment to an indeterminate term of incarceration of 2 to 4 years, and directing that the sentences on counts two and six run consecutively to each other and that the sentences on counts one, three, four, and five run concurrently with each other and consecutively to the sentences imposed on counts two and six, and as modified the judgment is affirmed.

...Despite defendant’s frequent involvement with law enforcement, nothing in the presentence report indicates that he has ever been violent or involved in drugs, and he has never been convicted of any crime more serious than a class D felony. Moreover, a sentence of 15 years to life is a particularly harsh penalty in light of the People’s final pretrial plea offer of 2½ to 5 years’ incarceration. We conclude that “[s]uch a disparity between the plea offer and the ultimate sentence militates in favor of a sentence reduction, especially for a nonviolent offender such as defendant”

You can read the complete decision HERE.

According to the New York State Department of Corrections, Brown is being housed at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility and was accepted July 8, 2016.