CANTON - A state appeals court Thursday upheld the conviction of an Ogdensburg man serving 6 1/2 years in state prison for robbing a woman at gunpoint in 2008.

Chance N. Stewart, 31, was sentenced in St. Lawrence County Court in June 2009 after a jury convicted him of felony third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was acquitted on a second-degree robbery charge. Judge Jerome J. Richards then sentenced Mr. Stewart as a repeat felony offender.

His earliest release date is March 2014.

He was accused of using a gun Feb. 28, 2008, to rob Katie Leigh King at 327 Park St. of $40 and a cell phone and of having the gun while at the Gran-View Quality Inn on Route 37, town of Oswegatchie.

In the appeal, his attorney Richard V. Manning of Parishville, argued Mr. Stewart never possessed the gun during the robbery, according to court documents. The appeal also accused Judge Richards of abusing his power during sentencing.

The Appellate Division’s Third Judicial Department found Mr. Stewart’s claims to be unpersuasive and without merit.

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