Plea deal in slaying of Wantagh man in Albany

January 29, 2010
By ZACHARY R. DOWDY

One of three men charged in the 2008 slaying of a 22-year-old University at Albany student from Wantagh has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for testifying against the other two suspects.

King Jamell Modest, 17, of Albany, pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted robbery earlier this month and will be sentenced on March 26 to 10 years in prison and five years' supervised probation, said Albany county officials.

Modest has agreed to testify against Devon Callicut, 19, of Rensselaer, and Ricardo Caldwell, 18, of Schenectady. He pleaded before Albany County Supreme Court Judge Dan Lamont, who will serve as trial judge, said Heather Orth, spokeswoman for Albany District Attorney David Soares.

Callicut, who prosecutors say was the shooter, is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree attempted robbery, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree robbery.

Caldwell is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree attempted robbery.

The men are being held without bail, but Callicut is serving time in state prison for an unrelated weapons offense.

They are accused of ambushing Richard Bailey as he walked to his off-campus apartment from a friend's home in Albany on Oct. 20, 2008. Bailey was shot once in the head, allegedly by Callicut, who police said went on to rob someone else minutes later.

The case remained unsolved for nearly a year until police arrested the three defendants in September.

Bailey had hoped to follow in his father's footsteps and join the New York Police Department. His relatives could not be reached for comment Friday.

The plea deal spares Modest a potential life sentence and may help prosecutors secure a conviction for the other suspects, said Steve Fondulis, a 23-year defense attorney who was also a Suffolk assistant district attorney for 10 years.

"Just about every time you have multiple defendants charged with something, police and the district attorney look for cooperation from one or more of them against who they think is the main person," Fondulis said. "It's a matter of degrees of involvement, and this would help ensure a sentence for the main player."

Modest's attorney, Michael McDermott of Albany, said on Fox23news.com, "Today was the first step of him trying to put his life back on track."

Callicut's attorney, Cheryl Coleman of Albany, said on the Web site that Modest is unreliable.

"Pretty much everybody I know who practices criminal law . . . their clients were told by the police that if they could provide information on the Bailey homicide, basically, it was a get-out-of-jail-free card," she was quoted as saying.

Neither attorney could be reached for comment Friday.

With Carl MacGowan

By By ZACHARY R. DOWDY
Posted Friday, January 29, 2010

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