Post by KC on Nov 28, 2006 23:12:30 GMT -5
November 28, 2006) — Former Rochester Police Officer Victor A. Millan was ordered today to spend 26 weekends in Monroe County Jail on his second conviction for stealing $40 from an undercover officer posing as a drug dealer.
City Court Judge Teresa D. Johnson imposed the same sentence she did in 2004 when Millan was convicted of the misdemeanors of petit larceny and official misconduct.
Millan, 34, won a new trial last year after County Court Judge John J. Connell ruled that Johnson erred when she allowed the jury in Millan’s first trial to consider a violation alleging that he had unlawfully possessed marijuana. The second trial, held in October, didn’t include that charge.
Although Millan’s lawyer, Matthew R. Lembke, argued that Millan deserved a lesser penalty than he received after the first trial, Johnson said the original sentence would stick.
“That was the appropriate sentence the first time…and it’s the appropriate sentence in this case,” Johnson said.
Millan, who was fired from the police department after his first conviction, was spared from serving his first sentence while he appealed. Johnson ordered him to begin serving the new sentence on Dec. 8.
The marijuana charge remains unresolved. Johnson set a trial date for Jan. 10.
Millan and Officer Philip Bustos were charged in 2003 after a sting operation aimed at Bustos, who was suspected of stealing money from drug dealers. Bustos was acquitted and has sued the city, claiming he was wrongly fired.
www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061128/NEWS01/61128009/1002/NEWS
City Court Judge Teresa D. Johnson imposed the same sentence she did in 2004 when Millan was convicted of the misdemeanors of petit larceny and official misconduct.
Millan, 34, won a new trial last year after County Court Judge John J. Connell ruled that Johnson erred when she allowed the jury in Millan’s first trial to consider a violation alleging that he had unlawfully possessed marijuana. The second trial, held in October, didn’t include that charge.
Although Millan’s lawyer, Matthew R. Lembke, argued that Millan deserved a lesser penalty than he received after the first trial, Johnson said the original sentence would stick.
“That was the appropriate sentence the first time…and it’s the appropriate sentence in this case,” Johnson said.
Millan, who was fired from the police department after his first conviction, was spared from serving his first sentence while he appealed. Johnson ordered him to begin serving the new sentence on Dec. 8.
The marijuana charge remains unresolved. Johnson set a trial date for Jan. 10.
Millan and Officer Philip Bustos were charged in 2003 after a sting operation aimed at Bustos, who was suspected of stealing money from drug dealers. Bustos was acquitted and has sued the city, claiming he was wrongly fired.
www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061128/NEWS01/61128009/1002/NEWS