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“What are my rights?” Yana Chechelnitsky shouted as Bergen County sheriff’s officers escorted her from the Hackensack courtroom. “Say something! Am I allowed to make phone calls?”
Moments earlier, an angry Superior Court Judge Patrick Roma threatened to scrap Chechelnitsky’s plea deal after ordering defense attorney Socrates Lambrinides to go fetch her.
The judge also blasted Lambrinides for having “the unmitigated gall” to claim that neither he nor Chechelnitsky understood that her plea agreement included spending 364 days in the county lockup.
That sentence began when she was brought to the jail after the hearing.
Superior Court Judge Patrick Roma (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia)
A grand jury in Hackensack originally indicted Chechelnitsky on eight counts stemming from her actions on Dec. 30, 2010, when, it says, she wielded a knife in attacking a man in her home.
When police arrived, Chechelnitsky turned the knife on Ramsey Officers Jeffrey Guilfoyle and Diane Bornkamp, who subdued her, according to the indictment.
Besides assault, attempted assault and weapons counts, Chechelnitsky was charged with two counts of child neglect.
Combined, these could have meant several years in prison if Chechelnitsky was convicted at a trial.
However, her attorney secured a deal in which Chechelnitsky agreed to spend 364 days in the county jail, followed by three years of probation.
It’s on a video recording from her October plea hearing.
Roma watched himself yesterday on the video outlining the sentence, as Lambrinides and Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Jessica Gomperts looked on.
“It’s clear in the court’s mind and what was on the tape,” Roma then told Chechelnitsky. “There is a reference on the plea agreement. Whose handwriting is that?”
“That’s my handwriting,” Lambrinides replied.
Lambrinides then contended that both he and Chechelnitsky thought she was agreeing to probation only, and that jail time be imposed only if she violated it.
“I cannot possibly accept this plea because that is not what was explained to me,” Chechelnitsky told the judge. “My problem was caused by alcohol. It is two years now I have been alcohol free. I got my children back. I told Family Court there was no possibility of jail time.
“I have a legal license, a major concern for me. My understanding from my attorney was not an actual jail term of 364 days. I would never have signed the plea agreement.”
Gomperts suggesting heading straight to the chief assignment judge to set a trial date.
“There is evidence. We have witnesses,” the assistant prosecutor said, adding that Chechelnitsky faced five years each if convicted of two of the original charges. “Then there are the police officers. There was a weapons charge.”
Roma said that wouldn’t be necessary.
“This case has been postponed, put off for various reasons. It’s on for today,” he said. “Clearly, this judge told this defendant that she was going to get 364 days.”
Roma also had some stern words for Chechelnitsky and her lawyer.
“There is something wrong with both of you — you, Mr. Lambrinides for not saying anything to me, or the defendant,” Roma added. “She’s held to a higher standard, she is not an ordinary person. She’s an attorney.
“I am at a loss [over] the way this was conducted today,” the judge told Lambrinides. “I told you I wanted her to remain in the courtroom, and you went outside when I told you she was to remain in the courtroom. The point is: You violated a court order.”
In the end, Roma didn’t penalize either for it.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia
Defense attorney Socrates Labrinides and Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Jessica Gomperts review plea hearing recording
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