NY appeals court reduces sentence for man who fired at deputies

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A state appeals court has reduced the sentence imposed on a defendant who fired gunshots at Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies.

Defendant Alonzo Jones was convicted in January 2025 before Monroe County Court Judge Julie M. Hahn, of attempted aggravated murder, attempted aggravated assault upon a police officer or a peace officer, and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

On June 2, 2022, deputies responded to a Henrietta restaurant for the report of a man armed with a gun. When deputies entered the restaurant Jones shot at them, nearly missing a deputy’s head. Deputies returned fire, but Jones was not hit. Jones dropped his gun and was taken into custody.

In a recent decision, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Fourth Department, unanimously modified the verdict as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, by reducing the prison sentence for attempted aggravated murder from 40 years to an indeterminate term of 30 years to life.

Jones’ appellate attorney, Stephanie M. Stare, argued that Hahn should have granted a defense motion to dismiss the indictment on speedy trial grounds.

Stare argued that, at the time the prosecution filed the initial certificate of compliance (COC) they had not provided them with a video recording of the police interviewing defendant in an interrogation room, which rendered the COC invalid and their statement of readiness illusory.

“We reject defendant’s contention,” the court wrote.

“It would not have been particularly obvious to the People that the video footage was missing given the format in which all of the video footage was forwarded from the Sheriff’s office and the volume of the discovery materials,” the court wrote.

“Applying a holistic assessment of the People’s efforts to comply with the automatic discovery provisions, rather than a strict item-by-item test, we conclude that the People exercised due diligence and made reasonable efforts to satisfy their obligations,” the court wrote.

The panel also rejected the defense contention that Hahn should have granted a request to remove the safety mechanisms from the gun during the cross-examination of the firearm examiner in order to show the ease of the trigger pull.

“The court acted within its broad discretion in concluding that the value of the proposed demonstration by the expert did not outweigh its potential for prejudice inasmuch as the conditions surrounding the demonstration in the courtroom were not substantially similar to those on the day of defendant’s arrest,” according to the decision.

“We further conclude that the court properly considered the safety of those in the courtroom when it denied the request,” the panel wrote.

“We conclude that the verdict is not against the weight of the evidence with respect to defendant’s intent to kill and his knowledge that he was firing his gun at a police officer,” the court wrote.

But, after considering the mitigating circumstances in the case, the Third Department agreed with the defense contention that the original sentence of 40 years in prison was “unduly harsh and severe.”

“We therefore modify the judgment as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice by reducing the sentence of imprisonment imposed for attempted aggravated murder … to an indeterminate term of 30 years to life, which results in an aggregate sentence of imprisonment of 30 years to life,” the court ruled.

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