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.
