The man convicted of criminal mischief in the first-ever jury trial in Cayuga Nation Court has been sentenced.
In a release from Nation Prosecutor Michael Kasmarek, Cayuga Nation Judge Joseph E. Fahey sentenced Carlin Seneca-John to pay a $5,000 fine and $3,100 in restitution following his conviction of Criminal Mischief in the Third Degree. Seneca had been tried in October 2023 before a jury of Nation citizens. Kasmarek noted this case is the first to proceed to a jury trial in the Cayuga Nation Court.
The charge arose from an August 2022 incident during which Mr. Seneca-John damaged a vehicle of a Nation-employed process server. The restitution will be paid to the owner of the vehicle.
According to the Nation, Mr. Seneca-John has a long history of violence toward the Nation and its citizens. In July 2014, he pleaded guilty to felony driving while intoxicated and reckless endangerment, after driving a van through a fence at a Nation property and then backing into a Seneca Falls Police Department vehicle while trying to flee. Mr. Seneca-John was subsequently sentenced in State court to six months in county jail and five years’ probation.
More recently, in February 2022, Mr. Seneca-John caused extensive damage to a Nation official’s motor vehicle and a Nation-owned residence. He later fled from police and was charged by the Seneca County District Attorney with criminal mischief, harassment, resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration, reckless driving, and other traffic violations. Seneca Falls Police requested an order of protection on behalf of the Nation official whose vehicle was seriously damaged. Mr. Seneca-John has subsequently pleaded guilty to several of the charges and was sentenced in State court to a fine and restitution for the damages.
