PRESS RELEASE
From: Holley Carnright
Dated: June 8, 2017
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The Appellate Division Third Department has unanimously affirmed the June, 2014 conviction of Christopher Holmes upon a jury verdict convicting him of the Class E felony of Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Fourth Degree.
Defendant’s conviction stems from an incident which occurred on February 26, 2014, when the victim returned to her home in Cottekill and discovered that the back door had been forced open and she had been burglarized. Among the items missing were a Dell computer, an Ipad and a significant amount of jewelry. The defendant, an Ellenville resident, immediately became a suspect because he had been found only an hour and a half earlier by the victim’s neighbor on his property under highly suspicious circumstances. When Sheriff’s Deputies Franco and Reynolds confronted defendant they observed him carrying the stolen electronics to his front door in an attempt to evade police. When the defendant was taken into custody, police found some of the stolen jewelry in his pockets, including a unique pin engraved with the victim’s first name.
On appeal, the defendant challenged the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction and argued that the verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence. He argued that the prosecutor’s summation deprived him of a fair trial because it impermissibly shifted the burden of proof to the defense. He also argued that Ulster County Court Judge Donald A. Williams acted inappropriately and was openly hostile and biased towards his lead attorney. The Appellate Division Third Department ruled that the complaint against Williams was unpreserved for appellate review and, therefore, did not address that complaint. The other claims made by the defendant were found to be without merit.
On appeal, defendant is represented by Jonathan Goldman, Esq. and Allan Sussman, Esq. of Sussman & Watkins, Goshen, New York. Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.