A former inmate at the Auburn Correctional Facility has been sentenced for assaulting two corrections officers while incarcerated at the prison two years ago.
Cayuga County District Attorney Brittany Grome Antonacci reports Yakez Cornett was sentenced this week to two five-year prison sentences by the Cayuga County Court. The sentences will run concurrently and will also require five years post-release supervision following his release from prison.
On August 14, 2023, Cornett attacked two COs in the prison’s south yard. As a result of the attack, the two guards were taken to the emergency room for treatment – one for a concussion and the other for neck pain.
Following the assault, Cornett was transferred to Attica.
On January 17, 2025, Cornett pled guilty to two counts of Second Degree Assault.
At the time of the assault, Cornett was serving a 12-year sentence after being convicted of First Degree Assault and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in Tompkins County following an April 9, 2017, incident where he shot a man five times in the Ithaca Commons after a verbal dispute.
Cornett’s new sentence will run consecutively to the Tompkins County sentence.
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