Sullivan County District Attorney Jim Farrell announced today that the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, has affirmed the convictions of Donald Blume, now age 34, of Livingston Manor, N.Y. Blume was convicted after a jury trial in November of 2009 in Sullivan County Court and was sentenced to 22 years in state prison for two counts of Robbery in the 2nd Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2nd Degree, all violent felonies.

Farrell said the jury found Blume and co-defendant, Frederick Pagan, guilty of robbing and pistol whipping a cab driver in a parking lot at the Hemlock Ridge Apartments in Livingston Manor in April of 2009. The cab driver, in an attempt to defend himself, pulled out a lawfully licensed pistol, and was disarmed by the defendant and beaten with his own gun.

The victim suffered a head injury in the attack and had his wallet and gun stolen. In a decision entered on February 9, 2012, the appellate court rejected all of the appeal arguments raised by Blume and affirmed all of the jury convictions and the 22 year state prison sentence previously imposed. Farrell said, “The defendant received a fair trial, was convicted by a jury of his peers, and received an appropriate sentence for this violent robbery. I am very pleased with the appellate court’s decision to affirm these convictions.”