NORWICH – A previously convicted felon, while pleading guilty to trying to sell meth in Chenango County Court, asked the judge Monday to make sure the sentence would not impact his current pistol ownership.

In a separate incident, police had charged the same person of being involved in a stabbing in Norwich in October of 2018, but those charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence and witness cooperation.

Appearing in court Monday, Matthew J. Neer, 36, of Norwich, pleaded guilty to fifth degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a D class felony, and admitted to the court that he was trying to sell two grams of methamphetamine on April 5 in the City of Norwich.

He was sentenced to participate in the judicial diversion program and put on interim probation.

Neer said he had a pistol and a permit from Broome County and wanted to make sure Monday's plea deal would not change that.

Neer was released to participate in the program after already serving several months at the Chenango County Correctional Facility.

In addition to being guilty of felony grand larceny in Broome County Court in 2015, First Assistant District Attorney James Snashall said Neer also had 10 prior misdemeanor convictions from Norwich, Sherburne, Vestal and Broome County areas.