Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announces that 20 year- old Michael Frears of 65 Barton Street in the City of Buffalo pleaded guilty as charged to Attempted Assault in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree before Acting State Supreme Court Justice John L. Michalski.  These are the highest charges for which the defendant could have been convicted had he gone to trial. In other words, Frears did not receive a so-called “plea bargain” and was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

On March 25, 2014, believing his stash of heroin had been stolen, Frears shot at the intended victim with an illegally possessed revolver. Frears fled the scene but was quickly apprehended by Lt. Michael Delong and Officer Donna Donovan of the Buffalo Police Department. In a shocking co-incidence, Frears was wanted on a parole violation arrest warrant in connection with his 2011 burglary conviction.

As a second felony offender, Frears faces a maximum prison term of 15 years when he is sentenced before Hon. John L. Michalski on August 25, 2014.

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Paul J. Williams, III, who is assigned to DA Sedita’s Felony Trial Bureau.