2008 Woodie Awards
PSUC student charged in alleged rape incident
Benjamin Pomerance
Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: News
Originally published: 9/20/07 at 6:51 PM EST
Last update: 9/20/07 at 11:41 PM EST
- Page 1 of 1
A Plattsburgh State student has been accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl after she passed out from intoxication at his parents' Moreau, N.Y. home on Dec. 28, 2006.
Ryan B. Peck, 20, will be offered a felony plea bargain by the Saratoga County District Attorney's Office in a conference that will occur sometime in the next six or seven days, Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III said.
If Peck takes the plea offer, he will be pronounced guilty and sentenced in Saratoga County Court at a later date.
If Peck rejects the District Attorney's offer, Saratoga County Court officials will set a date for a jury trial.
Murphy said his office has not decided the terms of the plea Peck will be offered, but guarantees the charges will be lighter than the ones he would face in a jury trial.
"It will be a felony plea, no doubt about it," Murphy said, "and we aren't going to let him off with a soft or unjustly lenient sentence. But we also aren't going to make it as harsh as it would be if he were convicted of all the counts he will be facing in County Court."
Earlier this summer, a Saratoga County grand jury indictedPeck on charges of first-degree rape - a felony punishable by up to 25 years in state prison - as well as the felony charges of first-degree sexual abuse and third-degree rape, and the misdemeanor charge of unlawfully dealing with a child.
Peck has admitted to hosting an underage drinking party during the Christmas break while his parents were visiting a sick relative in Florida, Murphy said, but the defendant entered a plea of "not guilty" to all charges in a Saratoga County Court arraignment in June 2007.
Most cases would have reached the conference stage weeks ago, Murphy said, but Peck's case was delayed when his attorney was accused of several felony misconduct offences just a few weeks after Peck's arraignment.
"It was a very unusual circumstance," Murphy said. "Suddenly, we couldn't talk to the defendant's (Peck's) attorney because our office had to prosecute him on his own felony charges. Mr. Peck could not be defended by this man anymore, and he refused to get another attorney, so everything just stagnated for months."
Murphy had to fill out an application for a special prosecutor to try the attorney's case, a lengthy process that left Peck's case on the shelf for the rest of the summer.
"We really didn't have things straightened out with these cases until the beginning of September," Murphy said.
Now, in about one week's time, a representative from the Saratoga County District Attorney's Office will meet with Ryan Peck to discuss his case for the first time in over four months.
"We'll know very soon whether we'll be looking at a sentencing or a jury trial in the upcoming months," Murphy said. "It's his choice which route he wants to take."
Ryan B. Peck, 20, will be offered a felony plea bargain by the Saratoga County District Attorney's Office in a conference that will occur sometime in the next six or seven days, Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III said.
If Peck takes the plea offer, he will be pronounced guilty and sentenced in Saratoga County Court at a later date.
If Peck rejects the District Attorney's offer, Saratoga County Court officials will set a date for a jury trial.
Murphy said his office has not decided the terms of the plea Peck will be offered, but guarantees the charges will be lighter than the ones he would face in a jury trial.
"It will be a felony plea, no doubt about it," Murphy said, "and we aren't going to let him off with a soft or unjustly lenient sentence. But we also aren't going to make it as harsh as it would be if he were convicted of all the counts he will be facing in County Court."
Earlier this summer, a Saratoga County grand jury indictedPeck on charges of first-degree rape - a felony punishable by up to 25 years in state prison - as well as the felony charges of first-degree sexual abuse and third-degree rape, and the misdemeanor charge of unlawfully dealing with a child.
Peck has admitted to hosting an underage drinking party during the Christmas break while his parents were visiting a sick relative in Florida, Murphy said, but the defendant entered a plea of "not guilty" to all charges in a Saratoga County Court arraignment in June 2007.
Most cases would have reached the conference stage weeks ago, Murphy said, but Peck's case was delayed when his attorney was accused of several felony misconduct offences just a few weeks after Peck's arraignment.
"It was a very unusual circumstance," Murphy said. "Suddenly, we couldn't talk to the defendant's (Peck's) attorney because our office had to prosecute him on his own felony charges. Mr. Peck could not be defended by this man anymore, and he refused to get another attorney, so everything just stagnated for months."
Murphy had to fill out an application for a special prosecutor to try the attorney's case, a lengthy process that left Peck's case on the shelf for the rest of the summer.
"We really didn't have things straightened out with these cases until the beginning of September," Murphy said.
Now, in about one week's time, a representative from the Saratoga County District Attorney's Office will meet with Ryan Peck to discuss his case for the first time in over four months.
"We'll know very soon whether we'll be looking at a sentencing or a jury trial in the upcoming months," Murphy said. "It's his choice which route he wants to take."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Scott
posted 9/22/07 @ 3:22 PM EST
Keep us posted on results of conference--people are getting away with things like this too often but it sounds like this DA is not going to let that happen. (Continued…)
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