Student Pleads Guilty to Drug Charge

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The New York Sun

A New Jersey teenager who peddled cocaine out of her New York University dorm room pleaded guilty to felony drug charges at Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday and will avoid jail time if she complies with drug treatment programs.


Julia Diaco, 19, of Rumson, N.J., was charged on April 27 for selling cocaine to an undercover officer on St. Marks Place and for having cocaine in her room at Hayden Hall.


In an appearance before Judge Charles Solomon yesterday, Ms. Diaco pleaded guilty to sale and possession of a controlled substance in the first degree, both class-B felonies that carry maximum sentences of 25 years. As part of her plea deal, Ms. Diaco, a first-time felony offender, will attend 18 months of substance-abuse treatment and testing.


“This is a young woman with considerable promise,” said defense attorney Paul Shechtman. “I’m glad that the district attorney recognized that and allowed her to avoid a jail sentence.”


Mr. Shechtman said his client will spend 10 months at an all-female drug treatment center near Sandpoint, Idaho, and will spend another eight months working or attending college courses or vocational training, in compliance with the court order.


A spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said that if Ms. Diaco successfully completes the program, she will then have the opportunity to plead guilty to reduced felony charges, class C and D, resulting in a 5-year probationary period.


QUEENS SHOOTOUT


A robbery attempt erupted in gunfire yesterday morning in the Richmond Hill section of Queens when three armed men in ski masks exchanged gunfire with two retired city police officers who were running a payroll service from their car, the police said.


At approximately 10:15 a.m., the masked man pulled up alongside the retired cops’ car and one robber flashed a gun, demanding money. One former cop fired five rounds as the van soon sped off, police said, leaving one robber brandishing a rifle to run down Atlantic Avenue, where he was spotted and arrested by police officers.


The two remaining robbers ditched their van farther down Atlantic Avenue and escaped by foot. The investigation was ongoing, the police said, and no injuries were reported.


FIREFIGHTER DWI


James Figaro, a 28-year-old city firefighter for Engine 97, was arrested while driving intoxicated early Thursday morning in City Island and Bridge Street in the Bronx. He has been suspended without pay, Fire Department officials said.


KILLER RESENTENCED


A man originally sentenced to death for the brutal murder of a supermarket co-worker was resentenced yesterday to life without parole.


Nicholson McCoy, 43, was one of those who benefitted from a June ruling by the state’s highest court that declared unconstitutional a provision of New York’s capital punishment statute.


The state Court of Appeals ruled a provision of the law unconstitutional because it might coerce jurors into voting for death for defendants. In New York, judges must tell jurors during the penalty phase of capital trials that they can choose between death or life without parole for defendants.


McCoy murdered Victoria Peymann, a 30-year-old mother of two from Shirley, at the Edwards supermarket in Medford on October 31, 1998.


Evidence during the trial revealed that McCoy’s fingerprints were found on six of eight florescent light bulbs – all of which had been unscrewed from their sockets, leaving the restroom in darkness. McCoy was a stock clerk.


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