PRESS RELEASE
FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT, DISTRICT ATTORNEY
DATE: DECEMBER 17, 2015
The Appellate Division, Third Department has today unanimously affirmed the August 7, 2013 conviction of Lawrence Wright following a jury trial, of the crimes of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.
Wright’s conviction of these class C violent and class D felony offenses stems from his participation in a shooting which occurred on January 13, 2013 in the Rondout Garden Apartments in Kingston, New York. Following a verbal altercation with another individual in that apartment complex the individual threw a stick at defendant’s Jaguar which damaged the side view mirror. The defendant retaliated by firing a pistol out of the driver’s side window.
Defendant, a second felony offender, was subsequently sentenced by County Court Judge Donald A. Williams to an aggregate prison term of 10 years to be followed by five years of postrelease supervision.
On appeal, defendant argued that his convictions were against the weight of the evidence and that the Court’s instruction to the jury with respect to the charge of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree was incorrect as a matter of law. The Appellate Division, Third Department, however, rejected each of defendant’s contentions.
On appeal, the defendant is represented by Theodore J. Stein, Esq. of Woodstock, New York. Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.