FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT
DATE: DECEMBER 20, 2013
RE: PRESS RELEASE – PEOPLE V. GERALD BABCOCK
On December 20th,
2013, Gerald Babcock was sentenced by Ulster County Court Judge Donald A.
Williams to 25 years in state prison plus 5 years of post-release supervision
after having been found guilty by an Ulster County jury of Manslaughter in the
First Degree.
Babcock was arrested
on March 11, 2013, as a result of an investigation by the New York State Police
into the death of Jamielynn Bleakley. The
investigation began on March 6th, 2013, when EMTs responded to a 911
call from Gerald Babcock claiming that Ms. Bleakley had just fallen down stairs
leading from her home in Denning. When
the first responders arrived, they found Ms. Bleakley lying face down in the
snow at the bottom of a small set of steps, covered in a small blanket and
sheets of plywood. She was wearing only
sweatpants, sneakers and a t-shirt that was pulled up above her breasts and to
her shoulders. Ms. Bleakley was rushed
to the Catskill Regional Medical Center where she was found to have a traumatic
brain injury. She was subsequently
transported to Westchester Medical Center where she succumbed to her injuries
on March 7th, 2013.
During the trial,
Forensic Pathologist Dr. Michael Baden testified that Ms. Bleakley had multiple
contusions on her arms, chest, back and face.
She sustained a fracture of the cartilage in the front of her neck that
was consistent with a hand compressions and her cause of death was from
subdural hematomas on the left side of her head. He testified that her death was a homicide
and her injuries were inconsistent with falling.
The defense admitted
that Babcock had assaulted Bleakley prior to her death, but claimed that her
fatal head injury was caused by a slip and fall related to her Multiple
Sclerosis.
Babcock has a long
criminal history which includes felony convictions in New Jersey for assaulting
his pregnant girlfriend with a baseball bat. At the time of his sentencing he
had five different orders of protection from five different women.
The case was
prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Michael Kavanagh and Elizabeth
Culmone. Babcock was represented by
Public Defender Andrew Kossover.
