Deal or no deal
Toolbox
By Cristina Kumka STAFF WRITER - Published: October 16, 2009
New York's Ernest Woodson wavered in court Thursday, struggling to decide whether to take the state's deal — five to 15 years behind bars for having more than 71 grams of crack cocaine on him, conspiring to sell it in Rutland and giving a fake name to police when arrested earlier this year.
In the end, Rutland District Court Judge Thomas Zonay made up Woodson's mind for him — sending him back to lockup to ponder taking the plea or going to trial — until a new change of plea hearing is set in a couple weeks.
"There is no harm to come for taking some time to think about it," Zonay told Woodson. "It's important you do this … this is your life — process it all, consider it all."
Before Zonay's ruling, Woodson was led into the courtroom, clad in a gray sweatshirt, sweatpants and shackles.
Woodson's attorney Joyce Brenner, openly discussed the agreement with him, saying "it could get better, it could get worse."
Woodson asked that his father be called to weigh in.
"I'm concerned about him taking an offer that could be detrimental … it's a prison sentence," Brenner said in court.
Zonay, however, said the amount of drugs was one factor that warranted a jail sentence longer than five years.
"If you do your time and parole is over, the court doesn't see a five-year sentence," Zonay said.
"The amount and the timing … all indicators (for a) substantial jail sentence."
Woodson, a 22-year-old from Brewster, N.Y., was arrested April 14 with Rutland's Howard Dease after police used a confidential informant to track them from a bus terminal in Albany, N.Y., to the Rutland area.
The informant told police Dease brought Woodson to the city to sell crack, according to court records.
The pair was stopped on South Main Street by police awaiting their arrival and later, Woodson turned over crack hidden in his sock, weighing more than 2 ounces, according to an affidavit.
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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