By Daniel Wiessner

ALBANY, N.Y., Dec 31 (Reuters) - A New York appeals court has ordered new trials for a man who was tried and convicted of counterfeiting checks drawn in the name of the Monroe County Sheriff's office.

A five-judge panel of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, on Friday said that judges in two upstate counties committed a series of errors during the prosecution of Isiah (CQ) Williams on charges of grand larceny, identity theft and other crimes.

The Fourth Department found that two of the trials should not have gone forward because Williams did not have an attorney to represent him. The court also found that a Monroe County judge should have suppressed a witness's identification of Williams and that a trial court in Ontario County committed a technical error on the verdict sheet.

Williams was convicted on three separate occasions in 2009 and 2010 of using the fake checks, which allegedly were created with computer software.

"The tainted proceedings adversely impacted defendant, thereby warranting ... reversal of the (convictions)," the court wrote in an unsigned memorandum.

The panel included Justices Henry Scudder, Eugene Fahey, Edward Carni, Stephen Lindley and Rose Sconiers.

Williams in 2009 was convicted in Ontario County Court of grand larceny and possession of a forged instrument. Two months later, he was convicted in Monroe County of possession of a forged instrument and possession of stolen property. The following year he was convicted of similar crimes as well as identity theft, again in Monroe County.

The Fourth Department said that during both trials in Monroe County, Williams made "baseless accusations" against his court-appointed lawyers before Monroe County Judge John Connell allowed him to proceed on his own.

Connell "erred ... inasmuch as (he) did not undertake a searching inquiry to insure that (Williams) was aware of the dangers and disadvantages of proceeding without counsel," the Fourth Department wrote.

The court also said that Connell erred by failing to suppress the in-court identification of Williams by a witness. That identification, the Fourth Department said, was the result of an "unduly suggestive" police photo array.

In the Ontario County trial, the jury was given a verdict sheet, which lists the charges against the defendant, that was improperly marked with the numbers of checks that Williams allegedly fraudulently cashed, said the court.

The Fourth Department vacated Williams's 20 years to life sentence and ordered new trials in both counties.

Ontario County Assistant District Attorney James Ritts said on Monday that his office would seek an appeal to the Court of Appeals with respect to their case against Williams.

The improper jury sheet notation "couldn't have been more harmless," Ritts said.

Williams's attorneys, William Pixley and Shirley Gorman, did not return requests for comment. The Monroe County district attorney's office also did not return a call.

The case is the People v. Isiah Williams, New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department Nos. 1322, 1327 and 1328.

For Williams: William Pixley (in 1327 and 1328) and Shirley Gorman (in 1322).

For the Monroe County District Attorney's office: Nicole Fantigrossi.

For the Ontario County District Attorney's office: James Ritts.

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