District Attorney Hoovler Announces Prison Sentences
in City of Newburgh Manslaughter Case

Poughkeepsie Man Sentenced to total of 12 to 15 Years in Prison for Manslaughter in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Monday, June 24, 2019, Steven Williams, 29, of Poughkeepsie was sentenced by Orange County Court Judge William L. DeProspo, to a total of twelve to fifteen years in state prison and five years post-release supervision, in connection with a January 25, 2019, City of Newburgh homicide, which led to a high-speed chase to Poughkeepsie. On April 30, 2019, Williams pled guilty to Manslaughter in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree. Williams was sentenced to seven and one-half to fifteen years in state prison for Manslaughter in the Second Degree and a concurrent sentence of twelve years in state prison for Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree. Prosecutors had recommended that Williams be sentenced to fifteen years in state prison on the weapons charge.

At the time of his guilty plea, Williams admitted that on January 25, 2019, at about 10:20 p.m., he was in a car with three other men that was being driven in the vicinity of Hasbrouck and Williams Streets in the City of Newburgh. Williams admitted that he caused the death of a Newburgh man by recklessly shooting a gun toward the sidewalk, and that one of the shots struck the man, killing him. After the shooting, another man drove the car at excessive speeds to evade a pursuing Town of Newburgh police officer, swerving between lanes among other motorists, and driving on the shoulder of the highway, until the chase ended when the car collided with a tree in the City of Poughkeepsie.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the City of Newburgh Police Department for their investigation and the Town of Newburgh Police Department for their assistance in apprehending the defendants.

The case is being prosecuted by Chief Trial Assistant District Attorney John Geidel.

“The community will be safer during the more than a decade that this defendant will be in prison,” said District Attorney Hoovler, “Gun violence in the City of Newburgh must stop and those who commit it must be brought to justice. Through the heroic efforts and quick thinking of one Town of Newburgh police officer, we were able to catch the perpetrator of this homicide. My Office will continue our efforts to prevent gun violence where we can, and, when we can’t, to vigorously prosecute those who commit it.”

This criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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