FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT
ULSTER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
DATE: OCTOBER 21, 2019
SUBJECT: PRESS RELEASE – JAMES CASEY CONVICTION
On Friday October 18, 2019, an Ulster County jury of one man and eleven women found James Casey, age 22, of New York City, guilty of Promoting Prison Contraband in the First Degree.
The evidence at trial established that Casey, while an inmate being transferred to Ulster Correctional Facility from Rikers Island, possessed an exacto type razor blade.
Numerous corrections officers testified at trial, including the officer who found the weapon. Other witnesses included a serologist and DNA analyst from the New York State Police Crime Lab who testified that a DNA profile was obtained on the weapon. Casey, however, refused to follow a court order directing that he submit a DNA sample for comparison.
Testifying in his own defense, Casey stated that he did not possess any weapon and tried to argue that the weapon was planted by the Department of Corrections.
Casey has several prior felony convictions, including one in 2017 for Attempted Assault in the First Degree. In that case, after being sentenced in Manhattan on Robbery in the Second Degree, Attempted Gang Assault in the First Degree, and Attempted Robbery in the Second Degree, Casey slashed a corrections officer in the head and neck with a razor blade causing serious physical injury.
Sentencing is scheduled on December 18, 2019 in front of Judge Donald Williams. Defendant faces a potential sentence of 3.5-7 years in prison, consecutive to his current sentence. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Paul Derohannesian. The defendant was represented by attorney Jeffrey Provenzano.