Schenectady man gets 12 years for videotaped attack

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

The city man convicted last month for his role in a daylight street attack caught on video was sentenced to 12 years in prison Friday.

Judge Michael V. Coccoma handed down the sentence, telling the defendant that, for as long as the sentence is in place, he wasn’t going to give him the opportunity to attack anyone else “who, for some reason, has incurred your wrath.”

Ashylaun J. Coleman, 25, of McClyman Street, was one of four people originally charged in connection with a Sept. 26 beating and slashing of a man at State and Hulett streets.

The case was unusual because nearly the entire incident was caught on the county’s street surveillance video system. The victim could not be located by prosecutors later and did not testify.

Coleman was the only one of the four to take his case to trial. The other three pleaded guilty before trial.

He was convicted of first-degree attempted assault and first-degree attempted group assault but acquitted of more serious assault counts.

Still, he faced up to 15 years in state prison. Coccoma gave him 12, noting the manner in which it was carried out — in the middle of the day and in front of multiple witnesses.

“That indicates to me that the individuals involved in this crime, who committed this crime, they have no regard for the law,” Coccoma told Coleman. “They didn’t attempt to hide their conduct. They did it openly and brazenly.

“You’re one of those people,” he added.

Coleman continued to proclaim his innocence. He said he did not receive a fair trial and questioned how he could be tried without the victim testifying. “I apologize for taking everybody through these proceedings because I’m not guilty of these crimes,” he said.

Coccoma responded that the evidence produced allowed the jury to convict. The jury saw the video and concluded it was Coleman who was on it. There also was other evidence against him.

The judge also disagreed “totally” with Coleman’s contention about whether he received a fair trial. He found Coleman’s representation by Brian Mercy “more than effective.”