ALBANY — A state prison inmate who last year was the focus of a precedent-setting opinion on ineffective assistance of counsel has lost an appeal in which he challenged the application of New York’s “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” provision.
The Appellate Division, Third Department, last week rejected Roger Stokes’ argument that he was wrongly hit with a prison sentence of 15 years to life following a conviction for spraying feces and urine at a prison counselor. Mr. Stokes, who was serving a term of 9 1/2 to 19 years for robbery and attempted robbery, was sentenced to a consecutive 15-years-to-life term after he was found guilty of a Class E felony, aggravated harassment of an employee by an inmate. That crime, which was codified in 1996, triggered New York’s persistent felony offender statute and resulted in a consecutive rather than concurrent sentence.
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