TO: MEDIA
FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT
ULSTER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
DATE: FEBRUARY 9, 2018
SUBJECT: PRESS
RELEASE – ESCHELL ASHCROFT CONVICTION
On Friday February 9, 2018, an Ulster County jury of 8 men and 4
women found Eschell Ashcroft, age 49, of Napanoch, NY, guilty of Aggravated
Harassment of an Employee by an Inmate.
The evidence at trial
established that the defendant, while an inmate at Eastern Correctional
Facility, threw urine on a corrections officer. The urine struck the officer in
his face, his shirt, and his pants. The incident was captured on video
surveillance. Numerous corrections officers testified at trial, including the
officer who was struck by the urine, along with a serologist from the New York
State Police Crime Lab who testified that the substance thrown on the officer tested
positive for urine.
Defendant testified
at trial that he did not throw anything on the officer, and tried to argue that
the case was a set up by the Department of Corrections. The defense called a
DNA expert from Ohio, who was paid approximately $5,000.00 who testified that the
defendant was not a major contributor to DNA found on the officer’s shirt and
that there was other DNA found on the shirt which had an insufficient amount of
DNA to develop a profile. The expert could
not controvert that the substance on the CO’s shirt was urine.
New York case law
prevented the jury from hearing that the defendant was convicted in 2005 for
throwing feces on a corrections officer while he was confined in Sullivan
Correctional Facility. In addition to his prior conviction for that crime, defendant’s
criminal history consists of two convictions for Attempted Robbery 2nd
degree, Reckless Endangerment and Endangering the Welfare of a Child, and
Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance for selling crack cocaine.
Sentencing is
scheduled on May 9, 2018 in front of Judge Donald Williams. He faces a
potential sentence of 2.5-5 years in prison. The
case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Paul Derohannesian. The
defendant was represented by attorney Russell Schindler.
