Kingston police say they are investigating a possible sexual assault in Midtown. But city Police Chief Egidio Tinti said today that there is no truth to a racially charged rumor spread on social media that the incident involved the gang rape of a child.

The rumor began spreading on social media and by word of mouth over the weekend that a child was abducted near the corner of Prospect and Franklin streets, taken to a nearby house and raped. In differing versions, the victim is a boy or a girl. Most of the versions described the perpetrators as four “Mexican” or Latino males. By Monday morning the story was being repeated as fact — complete with graphic details of a medical exam of the victim — among a crowd of onlookers at the scene of a shooting incident downtown.

But Tinti said that the social media rumors bore no relation to the actual alleged incident. Tinti declined to provide details citing the ongoing investigation. But, he said, the incident did not involve a minor child.

“What’s on Facebook is not true,” said Tinti. “We are looking into an allegation that there was a sexual assault but whether it actually took place is something we’re still investigating.”

Heavily armed police in action Tuesday. (Photo by Phyllis McCabe)

Police examine a structure looking for bullet holes. (Photo by Jesse J. Smith)

A Kingston man with a long rap sheet for drug crimes is facing felony charges after he allegedly fired several shots on a downtown street Tuesday morning.

Kevin Greene, 33, of West Pierpont Street was arrested and charged with felony counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Witnesses say the gunplay erupted near the intersection of Hone and West Pierpont streets around 10 a.m. One resident of the street said the first shots were fired at 10:02 a.m., followed by a second round of shots five minutes later.

Members of the Kingston Police Department’s Patrol Division and Special Investigations Unit responded to the scene. According to KPD Detective Sgt. Brian Robertson, by the time cops arrived, Greene and three other men involved in the dispute had retreated into separate houses. Police also recovered a 9mm handgun on the street. After all four men responded to police calls to come out and were taken into custody, Robertson said he called for backup from the countywide emergency response team and other police agencies. Robertson said the call for tactical support came out of an abundance of caution and concern that others involved in the incident might be hiding out in one of three houses where suspects were detained.

“We weren’t getting great answers [from the men detained] so we called in the tac guys,” said Robertson. “We wanted to safely clear those houses with more manpower.” 

Kevin Greene (KPD photo)

By 11:15 a.m. the SWAT team had established a cordon around a triangular block bounded by McEntee, West Pierpont and Hone streets. Around the same time a young male was taken in handcuffs from a SWAT team vehicle and placed in a KPD patrol car. Over the next two hours, heavily armed and armored ERT members methodically cleared houses and yards searching for additional suspects. Inside the cordon Kingston Police Detectives probed possible bullet holes in 101 and 96 Hone. At the corner of West Pierpont and Hone, KPD school resource officer Harry Woltman worked to calm an increasingly impatient crowd of residents seeking to return to their homes. At one point during the police operation, Woltman directed a woman to call two school-age girls inside one of the houses so he could give them directions on how to deal with a SWAT team about to enter the home. At another, Woltman helped arrange for an autistic child who lives on the block to be dropped off a short distance away from the chaotic scene and escorted home.

Among the crowd gathered at the scene, speculation about the source and motive. By 1:30 p.m., the last house on the block had been cleared and detectives were beginning to process the crime scene and interview witnesses.

Robertson said all of the men involved in the dispute either lived or had family ties in the neighborhood and all four men knew each other. Robertson added that exact motive for the shooting remained unclear, but that Greene and the men he fired at were involved in an ongoing feud. Cops believe Greene spotted his rivals on the street and began firing. State records show that Greene was released from state prison in February 2017 after serving 18 months for criminal sale of a controlled substance. The records show he had served two previous prison terms, dating back to 2003 for drug crimes. 

Greene was arraigned in Kingston City Court and sent to the Ulster County Jail without bail. Kingston police say the investigation is ongoing and more charges may be filed. City police were assisted at the scene by the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, the New York State Police, the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team, Town of Ulster Police and the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office. 

Joseph I. Arredondo-Alarcon

A fire at a house in Marlboro led to the seizure of more than 300 pounds of marijuana and put cops on the trail of what they believe is a large-scale drug-trafficking organization operating in the Hudson Valley.

The investigation began on June 6 when members of the Marlboro police and fire departments responded to a blaze at 212 Bingham Lane. Cops and firefighters quickly determined that the single-family residence housed a major marijuana growing operation, complete with ventilation systems, ballasts, fertilizer, grow lights and counter-surveillance equipment. Cops also recovered instructions and ledgers at the house.

The operation, police said, was powered by an illegal splice into Central Hudson’s power grid to avoid tipping off authorities with an unusual pattern of power usage.

Authorities say the fire started in the basement with an electric motor, part of a complex ventilation system, before spreading through the walls to the attic. The fire damaged, but did not destroy, the house and left most of the evidence intact.

Once Marlborough police realized the nature of the growing operation, they called in the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team for assistance. Over the next week, the team executed search warrants at six locations and turned up six more grow houses. In addition to the house at 212 Bingham Lane, cops found grow houses operating at 216 and 260 Bingham, as well as 110 Lyons Lane in Marlboro. The investigation also uncovered two more growing operations at 17 and 23 Bright Star Drive in the Town of Newburgh.

Police say all of the houses were large, single-family, new-construction homes. The three Bingham Lane residences, cops said, had been entirely converted for growing purposes. All of the homes were owned by one person, police said, but they did not identify the owner.

Over the course of the investigation, police recovered about 325 pounds of marijuana in both processed and plant form. The weed, cops said, has a street value of about $800,000.  Police believe the grow operation had been going on for at least a few years.

Police have made a single arrest in the case. Joseph I. Arredondo-Alarcon, 34, of 216 Bingham Lane was arrested after a traffic stop on the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge on the evening of June 7. Arredondo-Alarcon was charged with felony first-degree criminal possession of marijuana and is being held at the Ulster County Jail.

Police say they are still in the early stages of the investigation and more arrests are expected. Among the angles police are exploring is whether marijuana from the houses was distributed locally, or grown in the Hudson Valley for sale elsewhere.

“It this has been going on for years I think it makes a huge impact,” said Sheriff Paul VanBlarcum. “If they’ve been selling here in the Hudson Valley, it’s a big impact.”

The “Sailin’ Around Saugerties” flotilla at the May unveiling recalls the quote from John A. Shedd: “A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.”

Every year, the Saugerties Chamber of Commerce picks a different theme for its artist-decorated street art project that stand in the village throughout the warmer months of the year. And every year, a few fall victim to violence.

Today at 1:41 p.m., Saugerties Police responded to a complaint of multiple men in a verbal dispute with an women on Main Street in the Village of Saugerties. Upon arrival investigating officers took Daniel V. Keogan, 38, of Ulster Ave., into custody after multiple witnesses reported observing Keogan punching and breaking two of the decorative sailboats boats in front of 89 and 99 Partition Street in the village.

Keogan was processed at Saugerties Police Headquarters on two counts of criminal mischief in the fourth degree. Keogan was arraigned in the Village of Saugerties Justice Court and remanded to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $500 cash bail.

Tyrone Brodhead (KPD photo)

An Ulster County sheriff’s corrections officer embroiled in a racial discrimination lawsuit against his employer has been arrested for assault. Tyrone Brodhead, 44, of Tubby Street was arrested by Kingston police on July 2. Cops say the arrest came after a warrant was issued in City Court charging Brodhead with misdemeanor counts of assault and criminal obstruction of breathing and violation harassment. Police say the charges stem from a past incident involving a 27-year-old female victim. Brodhead was arraigned in Kingston City Court and released without bail.

Brodhead is one of five black Ulster County corrections officers who filed suit last year alleging that they were denied promotions, subjected to harsher discipline than white co-workers and subjected to a hostile work environment because of their race.

On Tuesday, July 3, the sheriff’s department announced on a Facebook post that Brodhead had been suspended for 30 days pending the results of an internal investigation, which will be independent of the KPD’s investigation.

City police are still seeking leads in a July 5 shooting that left a 26-year-old man paralyzed from the waist down. Meanwhile, the victim’s mother has organized an “increase the peace” effort to promote non-violence among city youth.

According to KPD Lt. Thierry Croizer, the incident occurred just minutes after midnight on July 5, hours after the city’s fireworks celebration. Croizer said cops were dispatched for a report of shots fired and someone yelling for help. When officers arrived they discovered the victim, who police have not identified, in the driveway of 68 Prospect St. with a single gunshot wound to his lower back.

The victim was transported to HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley’s Broadway campus and later taken to Westchester Medical Center for further treatment. The victim’s mother, Lisa Royer, said the bullet is lodged in her son’s spine in a spot too risky for surgeons to remove. Royer, who spoke on the condition that her son’s name not be used because he remains hospitalized under an alias and his shooter remains at large, said he was paralyzed from the waist down.

“He’s got a long road ahead of him,” said Royer.

Royer is a founding member and organizer for the local social justice group Rise Up Kingston. She has been prominent in the group’s anti-police brutality efforts since last year, when she filed a complaint against KPD school resource officers, alleging they roughed up her teenage daughter Aleesa Jordan in an incident near Kingston High School. (The officers were later found by the city’s police commission to have acted within department guidelines.)

Just days after the shooting, Royer and other members of Rise Up Kingston held an event on Prospect Street aimed at reducing violence among city youth. Royer said her son had been childhood friends with Jarius Lightfoot, who was shot and killed at age 16, just down the street from where Royer’s son fell wounded. Royer said her goal is to stop the cycles of violence and retaliation that have left too many Kingston kids dead or injured.

“I tell people, if you’re praying for me and my son, pray for the shooter and his mom too, because either of could be in that situation in this day and age,” said Royer. “I just want it to stop.”

Croizer, meanwhile, said the investigation into the shooting remains active and police are seeking the public’s help in developing additional leads. Croizer added the investigation had been hampered by uncooperative witnesses and an unwillingness on the part of people who might know something to step forward.

“We want to help the community but there are people out there who don’t like us, don’t trust us or they have this code that says don’t talk to the cops.”

Royer said she wants her son’s assailant brought to justice. But, she added, she understands people’s reluctance to assist the investigation. Royer referred to several allegations of police brutality and a persistent rumor — denied by police and prosecutors — that a KPD detective indirectly and inadvertently tipped off the killers of C.J. King Jr. In 2010, King was murdered by gang members who learned that he was a cooperating witness in a case against a fellow member of the Sex Money Murder Bloods set.

“There’s a just a lot of distrust out there” said Royer.  

Two more murder indictments were handed up by a Greene County grand jury in recent weeks regarding the death of former Woodstocker Brandyn Foster, with Greene County District Attorney Joe Stanzione talking about the ways in which previously-charged Carlos Graham, and the newly indicted Ashton Adams and Sade Knox had conspired in the local hip hop artist’s murder, then hid his death by burying his body in a crawlspace beneath their home’s main bedroom, which Foster once shared with Knox.

Stanzione credited the Woodstock Police Department and its chief Clayton Keefe for doing an excellent job in a missing persons investigation from the winter of 2017.

31-year-old Graham, who Stanzione said had no regular address before his arrest, was arraigned in late April on an eight-count indictment in Greene County Court in Catskill for the killing of Brandyn Dayne Foster of Woodstock in January, 2017. Foster, son of the jazz drummer Al Foster and Bonnie Steinberg, had grown up in several homes on Ohayo Mountain Road, was the father of a ten-year-old son, Jazzon, and had been recording in the area for several years.

Graham was charged with second degree murder; second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a class C felony; third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree grand larceny, both class D felonies; and concealment of a corpse and two counts of tampering with physical evidence, both class E felonies. Knox and Adams were originally charged with concealment of a crime, with Knox also accused of evidence tampering.

Three weeks ago, Knox, age 30 and six months pregnant, was arrested where she was living in Kingston and charged with second-degree murder and conspiracy, both felonies. She was arraigned in Greene County Court and sent to the Albany County Jail medical wing in lieu of $100,000 bail, and is being represented by assigned counsel after pleading not guilty. She had previously been out on bail paid by her parents.

Adams, age 26 of Catskill, was indicted for second-degree murder, conspiracy, hindering prosecution, grand larceny, concealment of a human corpse, and two counts of tampering with evidence, all felonies. Stanzione said he was being held in Ulster County jail and represented by the Greene County public defender’s office.

Stanzione said that Greene County Court has granted 45 days for the defendents’ motions and demands, after which “there will be some hearings and a trial.”

He added that the new indictments came after prosecutors presented new evidence to a grand jury. ++

New Paltz Police Chief Joe Snyder and attorney David Holland, Empire State National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Executive & Legal Director. (Photo by Lauren Thomas)

David Holland, executive and legal director of the Empire State chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), was a special guest at last week’s joint meeting of the New Paltz Town and Village Boards, where an extended discussion was held on possible options for reducing the prosecution of Ulster County residents for possession of small quantities of cannabis. Holland was invited to speak at the suggestion of local attorney Celeste Tesoriero, who has alleged that students and people of color are unfairly targeted under current arrest protocols, based on data that she has amassed by filing Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests with various law enforcement agencies in the county. Tesoriero says that in New Paltz, a black person is eight times more likely to be arrested for Unlawful Possession of Marijuana (UPM) than a white person. Also on hand for the discussion were a number of law enforcement agents, including New Paltz Police chief Joseph Snyder and Ulster County assistant district attorney Joey Drillings.

Village trustee KT Tobin noted that both boards had already passed a joint resolution supporting legislation at the state level to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession and private use. But until such a statewide change takes place, municipalities and their law enforcement agencies are bound by requirements that persons arrested for marijuana must appear in court. If convicted, they can be stripped of eligibility for such benefits as scholarships, student loans, food stamps and Section 8 housing, and be put in peril of deportation if their immigration status is still in process. Holland pointed out that, unlike losing one’s driver’s license for amassing 11 points’ worth of speeding tickets, “New York State doesn’t have an expungement mechanism” whereby such eligibility can be restored over time. Moreover, unlike drinking and driving, traces of cannabis can remain in the bloodstream for up to 30 days after use, even though the individual’s ability to drive safely is no longer impacted.

To avoid consequences that outweigh the seriousness of the crime, many regional courts offer people detained for UPM a type of plea bargain called Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal (ACD), in which the charges are dropped if the person stays out of trouble for six months. “ACDs are given out much more routinely now,” noted Holland. “Police chiefs are more willing to discuss it. It’s unprecedented as compared to five years ago.” Two of New York City’s five boroughs now have a policy of non-enforcement in cases where the only charge is UPM, he said.

Arresting someone on a misdemeanor charge of UPM is “a waste of resources if the district attorney is going to dismiss it anyway,” Holland argued. “How much time is taken up writing up the ticket, taking someone down to the station, having them make a court appearance, filing papers with the county clerk? What is the cost to the community?” He recommended an alternative approach in which, short of full legalization, UPM is included under the category of “quality of life” offenses under a local ordinance, comparable to littering or loitering. Under such an arrangement, the offender could be ticketed, plead guilty by mail and pay a fine that would accrue to the coffers of the municipality, rather than the county court system.

The prospect of a solution to the problem of overzealous policing of what is widely perceived today as a very minor offense that also would create a new revenue stream for towns and villages piqued the interest of several board members. In order to “get to a situation where people are fined,” Village trustee Don Kerr suggested that the Ulster County District Attorney appoint a part-time assistant to preside in New Paltz one night per month over all marijuana-related arrests made by all four of the police agencies with jurisdiction in the town. Holland thought that police officers themselves should be empowered to write a ticket instead of making an outright arrest for a UPM.

“The town and village attorneys would have to look at that,” responded Chief Snyder to the idea of a local ordinance putting more discretionary power in the hands of the arresting officer. He suggested that other “nuisance” offenses such as carrying an open alcohol container on the street should also fall under such a local law, noting that when his officers are having a busy night, they typically only ask open-container offenders to pour out the contents of their beverages and don’t arrest them if they are compliant. “This would give us another tool,” Snyder said. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Some of the officials present expressed doubts that such a local ordinance could supersede state policies while cannabis remains classified as a controlled substance at the state level. “I spoke to a special prosecutor,” said Town Board member Dan Torres. “There are a number of reasons why that doesn’t work.” ADA Drillings argued that reducing a UPM charge to the equivalent of a parking ticket was properly the domain of a special prosecutor, saying, “I’ve never seen an ordinance when there’s already a state law.” But he also rejected Kerr’s idea of a dedicated ADA for New Paltz as too costly. Questions were also raised as to the ethical implications of determining priorities for law enforcement officers. “As the Town Board, we can’t tell the police what kind of ticket they’re allowed to write,” said town supervisor Neil Bettez.

No specific actions were taken at the meeting, but Holland was invited to draft a model local ordinance that he thought would be likely to withstand a legal challenge from another jurisdiction, based on his many years of working as an attorney for NORML. “Make some suggestions,” said village mayor Tim Rogers.

New York State Police at Highland announced the arrest of Ryan B. Williams, 29, of Poughkeepsie, for the felony charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, second-degree manslaughter, unlawfully fleeing a police officer and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He was also charged with the misdemeanor offense of driving while intoxicated and reckless driving.

Williams was arrested as a result of an investigation into the fatal motor vehicle accident that occurred on the evening of July 1, 2018 on State Route 299 in the town of Lloyd, which claimed the life of  Danielle M. Pecoraro, 39, of New Paltz.

The chase followed a report of an erratic operator. Police located the vehicle, a 2008 Porsche Cayenne, and attempted to stop it. According to police, the vehicle failed to comply and fled westbound on State Rt. 299 at a high rate of speed. Members of the state police assisted the Town of Lloyd PD with the pursuit. As the vehicle approached the intersection at South Street near the Lowe’s store, it struck the side of a 2008 Ford, then crossed over into the eastbound lane striking a Pecoraro’s 2018 Ford pickup head-on. A 2016 Toyota then struck the rear of the Porsche. Both Williams and Mercedes Rosado, 24, the passenger in the pickup, were treated for injuries following the crash.

Williams was arraigned before the Honorable Terry Elia in the Town of Lloyd Justice Court and remanded to the Ulster County Jail without bail pending a future court appearance.

The state police were assisted by the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office.

The Kingston Police Department is asking the public to help it find whoever’s responsible for two incidents of desecration at Wiltwyck Cemetery, one on June 17 and the other on Aug. 22. In both incidents, “numerous” headstones were tipped over, police said. “The section affected is an older section of the cemetery,” the KPD wrote on its Facebook page. “Many older and irreplaceable headstones were damaged/broken during these two incidents. The management of cemetery is in the process of having some of the stones returned to their original upright position but many of the older headstones were damaged and are not able to be repaired properly.”

Those with information are asked to call (845) 331-1671. Those wishing to remain anonymous can use the “Submit a Tip” app on the Kingston police Facebook page or leave an anonymous tip on our Kingston Police Tip Line at (845) 331-4499. All calls/information will be kept confidential.

On Friday Aug. 31, Saugerties Police received a complaint from the Saugerties School District concerning a Facebook posting in which an individual made a threat of violence against a school. The posting stated: “I wanna just go to the gd [god damn] school and shoot it up rn [right now] I don’t give a fuck if I got (sic) to jail.”

Saugerties Police initiated an investigation into the posting, determining the author was 18-year-old Alexander Scott McLain, a registered 10th grade student in the Onteora School District. Working with the Onteora School District superintendent, the Onteora High School District school resource officer, Saugerties Police school resource officer, and the Saugerties School District superintendent’s office, police were able to locate McLain, now residing in the village of Saugerties.

According to police, McLain was interviewed and admitted to making the post and several other posts, stating he was directing his anger toward Onteora High because of a recent communication he had received. Investigation by police established that McLain did not own any firearms himself.

Saugerties Police, with the assistance of the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, continued to investigate the threat and on Saturday Sept. 1, McLain was arrested and charged with the felony of making a terroristic threat. Mclain was processed at Saugerties Police Headquarters and then arraigned in the Village of Saugerties Justice Court, where he was remanded to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $25,000 cash bail or $75,000 bond. McLain is scheduled to return to Village of Saugerties Justice Court on Sept. 6 to answer his charge. A stay away order of protection was issued on behalf of the Onteora Central School District by the justice court.

On Friday Aug. 31, Saugerties Police received a complaint from the Saugerties School District concerning a Facebook posting in which an individual made a threat of violence against a school. The posting stated: “I wanna just go to the gd [god damn] school and shoot it up rn [right now] I don’t give a fuck if I got (sic) to jail.”

Saugerties Police initiated an investigation into the posting, determining the author was 18-year-old Alexander Scott McLain, a registered 10th grade student in the Onteora School District. Working with the Onteora School District superintendent, the Onteora High School District school resource officer, Saugerties Police school resource officer, and the Saugerties School District superintendent’s office, police were able to locate McLain, now residing in the village of Saugerties.

According to police, McLain was interviewed and admitted to making the post and several other posts, stating he was directing his anger toward Onteora High because of a recent communication he had received. Investigation by police established that McLain did not own any firearms himself.

“It was a Facebook posting and he admitted that he was angry towards the school district,” said Saugerties police chief Joseph Sinagra. “When we interviewed him he said his anger was directed towards the Onteora school district. He received some communication from the school district and was disappointed. He was looking to become a Saugerties student and received some communication regarding his academic status which would have prevented that from happening.”

Saugerties Police, with the assistance of the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, continued to investigate the threat and on Saturday Sept. 1, McLain was arrested and charged with the felony of making a terroristic threat. Mclain was processed at Saugerties Police Headquarters and then arraigned in the Village of Saugerties Justice Court, where he was remanded to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $25,000 cash bail or $75,000 bond. McLain is scheduled to return to Village of Saugerties Justice Court on Sept. 6 to answer his charge. A stay away order of protection was issued on behalf of the Onteora Central School District by the justice court.

“The whole Saugerties community should be very proud of the students who attend here,” said district business manager Lissa Jilek. “In the past year we had a credible threat, and it started with. ‘See something, say something.’ And that is so important, those four little words: ‘See something, say something.’

“It cannot be diminished,” Jilek added. “It will be taken seriously and investigated, just like this past threat this weekend, to the fullest.”

In a statement posted on the district web site, Onteora Superintendent Victoria McLaren wrote: “I have been informed that a student recently made comments of a threatening nature on a private Facebook page, which may have been directed at the Onteora school district. The Town of Saugerties Police Department conducted an extensive investigation and deemed the threat to be not credible, as they believe there was neither actual intent nor means available to act upon the threatening comments.

“However, regardless of whether or not there was intent, this behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Charges have been filed, and legal action is being pursued. In today’s world, our children must understand the seriousness of their words and be held accountable for them. Please remind your children about the serious consequences that come with such actions. Also, encourage them to never hesitate to share anything that they see or hear that makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.” 

This is the third time in the last year that local threats to schools have spurred arrests.

A February 21 Snapchat message led to the arrest of Connor Chargois, a Saugerties High School student who was caught, police said, with a cache of illegal guns and ammunition in his basement in February after threatening social media posts.

Chargois and his father Bruce, 58, of Saugerties, were both charged on Feb. 27 for felony third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, which could get both a maximum of seven years in state prison. They are due in County Court September 6. 

In March, Henry Reilly, a 23 year old Saugerties man was arrested and charged with the federal crime of making a terroristic threat. He then pled guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of falsely reporting an incident.

Sheriff Paul J. VanBlarcum reports multiple arrests as a result of a child predator identification and enforcement operation. Members of the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force, Town of Ulster Police Department, the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team, and New York State Police arrested several persons subsequent to this coordinated effort.

In early September of 2018, Detectives, Special Agents and Investigators conducted an undercover operation in the Town of Ulster. The defendants solicited an arrangement to have sex with minor children and then met undercover police officers to engage in sex with a child. The following persons were arrested and charged:

The Elmendorf Street Bridge where, Seth Lyons allegedly told police, he killed Anthony Garro Jr. (Photo by Dan Barton)

Seth Lyons

A defense attorney for accused killer Seth P. Lyons said in county court Monday that he will likely raise a psychiatric defense when his client goes on trial next week. Lyons, 21, is charged with second-degree murder in the November 29, 2017 beating death of Anthony Garro Jr. Jury selection for the trial is slated to begin on Monday, September 17.

Garro’s badly beaten and partially nude body was discovered beneath a pile of brush under a bridge spanning the former Catskill Mountain Railroad right of way at Elmendorf Street in midtown Kingston on the morning of the murder. Lyons, who like Garro was homeless at the time, was arrested a few hours later after a police officer canvassing the neighborhood for security camera footage spotted him in blood-spattered clothes a few blocks from the crime scene. 

According to police, Lyons would later tell detectives that he attacked Garro, who was sleeping on a couch under the bridge, after smoking crack with another man in the abandoned rail cut. Lyons allegedly told investigators that he discovered his cell phone missing and suspected Garro may have taken it. Lyons allegedly confessed to punching and kicking Garro, stomping his feet against a railroad tie and pelting him with a brick, rocks and tree limbs before stripping him naked and leaving him under the brush pile.

This week, county court Judge Donald Williams held a series of pretrial hearings on evidentiary issues, including the admissibility of Lyons’ statement to police, eyewitness identifications and prosecutor’s ability to introduce evidence of “prior bad acts” in the event Lyons takes the stand.

Anthony Garro Jr.

During the hearing defense attorney Bryan Rounds told the court that he intended to raise a psychiatric defense in the case, but didn’t specify the precise nature of the defense. The most common psychiatric defense is not guilty by reason of “mental disease or defect,” which argues that at the time of the crime the defendant was so impaired by mental illness that they could not form the intent necessary to meet the statutory criteria for guilt. The defense may also argue innocence based on “extreme emotional disturbance.” Under that theory, the defendant acted in an emotional state so extreme as to cause “profound loss of self-control.” To succeed, the extreme emotional disturbance must have a reasonable explanation.

Rounds declined to comment on the case prior to the trial. But he has previously described a police report summarizing Lyons alleged confession as a “one-sided” and “cherry-picked” version of his client’s actual account of the incident under the bridge.

The Sept. 10 hearing also featured testimony from Kingston Police Detective Benny Reyes who recounted interviewing John Lally, the man who Lyons was allegedly hanging out with in the railroad cut the night of the murder. In a recording of the interview, which took place in the parking lot of a Sunoco gas station at the corner of Broadway and Franklin streets, Lally identifies Lyons based on a photocopy of the suspect’s driver’s license. Lally told Reyes that he had hung out and smoked crack with Lyons previously. The morning of the murder, Lally said he had been present with Lyons and Garro under the bridge and at the Sunoco station but, he said, he left after Lyons became angry and combative. On the recording, portions of which were played at the hearing, Lally said that Lyons “wanted to kill himself” and said “all kinds of crazy stuff” on the morning of the murder.

“He’s crying one minute, the next minute he’s my friend drinking beer,” Lally tells Reyes. “The next minute he wants to fight me.”

Gilberto Nunez enters court back in 2016. (Pool photo by Tania Barricklo | Daily Freeman)

A former Kingston dentist who was the subject of a sensational murder trial two years ago is free after serving 19 months of a potential seven-year sentence in state prison. State records show that Gilberto A. Nunez, 51 was released from the medium-security Altona Correctional Facility up in Clinton County on Monday, Sept. 10. 

In October 2015, Nunez was indicted on charges of second-degree murder in connection with the November 2011 death of Thomas Kolman Jr. of Saugerties. Kolman was found dead in his car in the parking lot of a Planet Fitness gym in the Town of Ulster; a medical examiner would later rule that his death was caused by poisoning using the powerful sedative Midazolam. At his trial, prosecutors argued that met Kolman in the parking lot and administered the sedative, intent on killing his friend and onetime neighbor in Saugerties. Police believe that Nunez wanted Kolman out of the way so that he could continue an affair with Kolman’s wife, Linda.

Over the course of a two-week trial, prosecutors painted Nunez as an obsessive lover who concocted a bizarre scheme to break up the couple using forged documents that purported to be from the Central Intelligence Agency, fake text messages from a nonexistent lover of Thomas Kolman and even an email in which Nunez allegedly impersonated his own mother imploring Linda to leave her husband. When that failed, prosecutors said, he killed his rival using a drug from his dental practice.

Nunez’s defense team meanwhile argued that prosecutors could not even prove that Kolman had died from Midazolam poisoning — rather than a heart attack — much less prove Nunez had administered an intentionally fatal dose of the drug.  On June 17, 2016 a jury found Nunez not guilty of murder while convicting him of felony forgery charges related to the fake CIA documents. In two subsequent trials Nunez would be found guilty of insurance fraud for inflating damage claims following a fire at building adjacent to his Washington Avenue, Kingston, dental practice and perjury for failing to disclose his other-than-honorable discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps on a pistol permit application.

In February 2017, County Court Judge Donald Williams sentenced Nunez to two-and-a-third to seven years in state prison. Earlier this year, Nunez was approved for release based on “merit time,” which allows nonviolent offenders to shave off one-sixth of their minimum sentence provided they comply with program goals and maintain a clean disciplinary record. According to state records, Nunez will remain on parole until Oct. 2, 2023.

Nunez will not be able to return to his former dental practice. At sentencing, Williams denied Nunez’s request for a certificate of relief that would allow him to regain his license following his release from prison.

A 29-year-old East Kingston man was jailed without bail on Sept. 18 after he was charged with setting two fires in that town of Ulster hamlet.

According to town police, an investigation determined that Michael Watzka was behind a suspicious shed fire on Feb. 23 at 114 John St. and, two days later, another suspicious fire at the former East Kingston Methodist Church on Brigham Street.

Police arrested Watzka and charged him with third- and fourth-degree arson and third-degree criminal mischief, all felonies, and the misdemeanors of fifth-degree arson and second-degree criminal contempt.

Town police were assisted by the county District Attorney’s Office.

Detectives from the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office are investigating a stabbing that occurred in the Jenny Brook mobile home park in the Town of Wawarsing.

On Monday, Sept. 17 at approximately 5:25 p.m., members of the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call reporting a stabbing at a residence on Jenny Brook Lane in Napanoch. Upon arrival, deputies encountered a large group of people arguing and three victims with injuries. Two of the victims had stab wounds. The stabbing victims were transported to Ellenville Hospital by Ellenville Rescue. An additional assault victim was treated at the scene. One person fled the scene and was located in a wooded area nearby by the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Team. Several persons were detained.

Seth Lyons. (Pool photos by Tania Barricklo/Daily Freeman)

Both sides agreed that the crime was brutal, senseless and committed by Seth Lyons. But, in opening arguments in county court Tuesday, attorneys for the prosecution and defense offered different theories of what had motivated the 21-year-old homeless man to savagely beat and kill 49-year-old Anthony Garro beneath a bridge on Elmendorf Street in the early hours of Nov. 29, 2017.

Garro’s body was found stripped, his sweatpants pulled to his knees next to a blood-soaked sofa in the rail cut around 8:30 a.m. on the morning of Nov. 29. Two hours later, Lyons walked into a deli 100 yards from the crime scene and into police custody after KPD officer Ed Shuman, who was inside reviewing security camera footage for clues in the case, noticed his blood-soaked clothing. Lyons would later confess to police that he had assaulted Garro sometime after midnight on the 29th. He is charged with second-degree murder and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison if convicted.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Mike Kavanagh told jurors that the crime was as callous as it was ugly. Garro, a homeless alcoholic who was sleeping on the streets after being ejected from a boarding house a few days before, crossed paths with Lyons as he returned to his “home” — a filthy couch beneath the bridge — with some beer sometime after midnight on the 29th. Lyons, a onetime Port Ewen resident, was under the bridge with another homeless man smoking crack. They sat with Garro for a short time then moved on. Kavanagh said that Lyons then realized he was missing his cell phone. Suspecting Garro might have taken it, he returned to the couch and demanded to search his pockets. Garro demurred. What followed, Kavanagh said, was a “senseless slaughter.”

During the attack, Kavanagh said, Garro threw a single weak punch and grabbed Lyons genitals in a desperate effort to ward off the assault. Lyons, meanwhile, battered Garro with a beer bottle, a brick, tree limbs fists and feet. The killing blow likely came after Lyons dropped a 54-pound boulder on Garro’s head, crushing the left side of his skull. Forensic pathologist Dr. Charles Catanese would later testify that Garro suffered 14 separate lacerations to the head from 14 different blows. The majority, he said, were inflicted as Garro lay unconscious or otherwise immobilized.

“Seth Lyons didn’t just murder Anthony Garro,” Kavanagh told jurors. “He savagely bludgeoned him to death in a manner that will shock you. He believed [Garro] deserved to suffer and he spared no effort to make sure that he did.”

Defense attorney Bryan Rounds makes a point.

Rounds: Focus on the facts

Defense Attorney Bryan Rounds, in his opening statement, told jurors to leave aside emotion and come to a verdict based on the facts. Facts that he said would clearly show that Lyons’ mental state was so disordered at the time of the attack that he could not possibly form the “intent to kill” necessary to sustain a charge of second-degree murder. Lyons, he told jurors, acted from “extreme emotional disturbance” based on “significant” pre-existing mental health issues which were exacerbated by having been awake for “days on end” while living on the streets and smoking crack cocaine.

Rounds told jurors that they would hear a frank assessment of his client’s mental state shortly after the killing from veteran KPD detective Tim Bowers. Bowers, Rounds told the jury is caught on tape — the same recording in which Lyons confessed to the crime — telling another cop, “He confessed, but he’s crazier than a shithouse rat.”

Rounds also suggested his client’s actions the morning of the murder would show further evidence of his state of mind. After killing Garro, Lyons showed up at Kingston Hospital seeking treatment for a small cut on his finger and a place to warm up and get a meal. Later that morning, he returned to a site less than a block from the crime scene, in a neighborhood swarming with police investigating the murder. Lyons, Rounds told jurors, had walked straight past a marked KPD car parked out front and into the deli where Shuman was reviewing security footage.

“There is plenty of evidence that will help you decide what was going on inside my client’s head,” Rounds told the jury.

In his own opening statement, Kavanagh anticipated Rounds’ psychiatric defense, arguing that the evidence would show that Lyons was indeed coherent and sane at the time of the murder. Kavanagh noted that when questioned by Shuman about the blood on his clothes, Lyons told the cop that had been set upon and robbed by “five or six black guys” the previous night. Later in an interview with detectives, Lyons repeatedly lied and sought to conceal his guilt before confessing the crime.

“His attempts to manipulate and deceive mean he was not crazy,” Kavanagh told jurors.

In county court Wednesday, Chief Assistant District Attorney Mike Kavanagh takes out one of the rocks prosecutors say was used to kill Anthony Garro. (Photo by Jesse J. Smith)

On the blustery cold night of Nov. 29, 2017 in an abandoned railroad cut in Midtown Kingston, Seth Lyons had two dollars, a “crumb” of crack cocaine and a dead cell phone in his pocket. Just 20 years old, Lyons was already a veteran of mental hospitals and rehabs for diagnoses like bipolar disorder, acute anxiety disorder and abuse of any and every drug he could get his hands on.

That same night, Anthony Garro was walking down the tracks with a cache of beer, hoping to get some rest on a filthy couch that stood beneath a bridge over the railroad cut. The adopted son of an academic and medical researcher and a special education teacher, the 49-year-old Garro had, like Lyons struggled with substance abuse and homelessness. On what would be his last night on earth, Garro was living on the street. He’d been ejected from a local boarding house a few days earlier after falling off the wagon following a stint in a rehab facility. The previous day, he’d turned up at Kingston Hospital seeking treatment for frostbite.

What happened next is agreed upon by both sides in the second-degree murder trial of Seth Lyons, which continued this week in county court.

The two men met briefly by the couch as Lyons smoked crack with another homeless man. Lyons left and began climbing out of the railroad cut when he realized his cell phone was missing. Suspecting Garro might have taken it, he returned to the couch and demanded Garro empty his pockets. Garro demurred and Lyons attacked — first with his fists, then, after Garro allegedly reached for his genitals, a beer bottle, rocks, bricks, branches and other debris, including a 54-pound boulder that shattered Garro’s skull. In the frenzied attack, Lyons dragged Garro off the couch, stomped his head on a railroad tie and kicked him in the head and body. He pulled off Garro’s shirt and coat, yanked his pants to his ankles, empted a tube of anti-bacterial cream on his back and covered his body with a desiccated old Christmas tree that somebody had dumped in the rail bed. For most of the attack, Garro was either unconscious or, as Lyons believed, pretending to sleep on the couch as the blows rained down.

The next day, Lyons would tell Kingston police detectives that he’d had a bad night. Unnamed people were “freaking out on him,” his friend refused to share his crack pipe, he felt suicidal — and he wanted to Garro to suffer for it.

“I wanted to bash somebody’s head who really deserved it because of the way they were treating me,” Lyons told KPD detectives Adam Hotaling and Tim Bowers as he sat smoking a cigarette at a picnic table outside of police headquarters.

Seth Lyons. (Pool photos by Tania Barricklo/Daily Freeman)

‘That’s when I lost it’

While Senior Assistant District Attorney Mike Kavanagh and defense lawyer Bryan Rounds agreed on what happened beneath the Elmendorf Street bridge that night, they put forth different theories of what was going though Lyons’ mind during those few minutes of explosive, lethal violence.

Rounds, backed by defense psychiatrist Stephen Price, argued that Garro’s alleged groping of his assailant triggered an “extreme emotional disturbance” in his client. A state of mental distress so severe as to cause what the law terms a “profound lack of self control.” In Lyons case, the defense argued, the extreme emotional disturbance triggered by Garro’s action was rooted in child sexual abuse by a family friend. In the picnic table conversation with Hotaling and Bowers (which he did not realize was recorded) Lyons tells the detectives that he began punching Garro as he lay on the couch pretending to sleep and continued to hit him after Garro jumped up warned him that he was a former Marine and threw a single weak punch before returning to lay on the couch. But the attack, Lyons told police, escalated after Garro rose from the couch a second time and tried to grab his crotch.

“He tried some gay molestation shit,” Lyons told the detectives. “He started moving towards me, grabbing my shit. That’s when I lost it.”

Months later, in interviews with psychiatrists for the prosecution and defense, Lyons would tell a different version in which Garro actually shoved him to the ground, yanked at his pants and tried to perform oral sex on him. 

Rounds told jurors that police knew immediately that Lyons had serious psychiatric issues. Shortly after Lyons’ was arrested, Bowers is caught on tape talking to Kavanagh, telling the prosecutor that Lyons, who had just confessed the crime, was “crazier than a shithouse rat.” Later, he said, police and prosecution forensic psychiatrist Kevin Smith would take pains to avoid words like “paranoid” “hallucinations” and “bipolar” which appear in Lyons psychiatric history. Smith, Rounds argued, “cherry-picked” elements of that history and his own interview with him to make him out to be a manipulative liar, while ignoring evidence of serious psychiatric issues that could make him prone to an extreme emotional disturbance. 

“They know right away that there are psychiatric issues here and they set about finding ways to dispel the notion that [Lyons] did not have the intent to kill Mr. Garro and dispel the notion that he acted under extreme emotional disturbance.” 

On his cross examination of Price, Kavanagh noted there was nothing in Lyons’ extensive psychiatric history prior to the murder that indicated sexual abuse. In his summation Wednesday morning, he told jurors that common sense would indicate that Garro’s supposed grabbing of Lyons genitals was a desperate act of self-defense, not a sexual assault and that his later story about Garro pushing him down and attacking him was contradicted by blood evidence which showed Garro was on the couch when he was fatally bludgeoned. Kavanagh also argued that Lyons crystal clear recollection of the assault and the deliberate nature of the violence indicated that Lyons was not in an uncontrolled frenzy.

“He’s aware of what he’s doing, where he is and what is happening,” Kavanagh told jurors. “And I submit that he was conscious and aware of the impact he’s having, snuffing out Anthony Garro’s life.”

The jury’s options

If Lyons is found guilty of second-degree murder he faces a sentence of 25 years to life. If jurors find him guilty but that he acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, he will be automatically guilty of first-degree manslaughter which carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 25. 

In addition to the psychiatric defense, Rounds also argued that Lyons actions did not meet the legal standard for second-degree murder because there is no evidence that he intended for the beating to kill Garro. Rounds noted that jurors had the option to convict Lyons of first-degree manslaughter if they found that he acted with intent to “cause serious injury” to Garro, or second-degree manslaughter if they found he acted in reckless manner, i.e. in a way that a normal person was likely to know posed a serious risk of death or injury. Either verdict, Rounds told jurors, would have serious consequences for his client. 

“There will be zero winners,” Rounds told the jury. “There will be no party, not for Mr. Garro’s family, not for my client’s family.” 

Rounds noted Lyons’ actions in the hours after the murder: He went to Kingston Hospital for treatment of a cut on his hand suffered during his attack on Garro, then turned up at a deli less than 100 yards from the crime scene, all while wearing clothing covered in Garro’s blood. Rounds argued that those actions indicated that Lyons left the crime scene believing that he had simply beaten Garro and left him in a humiliating position, not killed him. During his interview with police, Rounds said, Lyons insisted that Garro was still alive when he left the scene. And, while Lyons said repeatedly that he wanted Garro to suffer, he never tells cops that he intended to kill him. 

“He’s saying horrible things, horrible things about what he did,” Rounds told jurors. “But he never says, ‘I wanted him to die.’” 

DA: Lyons lied

Kavanagh said that Lyons’ actions belied a manipulative effort to evade responsibility for a deliberate murder. When he went to Kingston Hospital for treatment, he reminded jurors, Lyons told staff there that he was injured after he was “jumped by five or six black guys” — a lie he would later repeat to police. He returned to the crime scene, Kavanagh suggested, because he wanted to see if the body had been discovered. When he was spotted by a cop in a deli less than 100 yards from the crime scene, he was wearing bloody clothes, while carrying a fresh set that he had just pulled from a nearby donation box. When officer Ed Shuman approached him in the deli saying he wanted to talk, Lyons asked that he be allowed to change clothes first. 

“This is a calculating, manipulative person,” Kavanagh said.

Kavanagh used a coroner’s chart and a recitation of Garro’s horrific skull injuries, caused by at least 14 separate impacts with solid objects, to make the case that Lyons fully intended to kill his victim. At one point, Kavanagh took a pair of blood-stained rocks — one the size of a hardcover book, the other a slab the size of a computer monitor — from evidence boxes and placed them before jurors to illustrate his argument. Lyons, he said, had knowingly escalated the fury of his assault in an effort to kill, not hurt, his victim.

“He went from a bottle to a brick to a rock to boulder,” Kavanagh told jurors. “That is intentional murder.” 

On November 19, 2016, Johnny Asia died in his home in Phoenicia, after ingesting brandy mixed with a variety of medications. His wife, Solane Verraine, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. 

The charge was later downgraded to manslaughter and assisted suicide. She was kept in the Ulster County jail without bail for over a year as law enforcement investigated and the court pondered her fate. Solane was finally offered a plea bargain by Ulster County Supreme Court Justice Don Williams. She pled guilty, and Williams sentenced her to two to seven years in state prison, shocking observers who expected she’d be released, based on time already served. The next day, he reversed his decision, after spending the night wrestling with his thoughts about the case. Solane was released on February 22, 2018. After staying with friends, she returned to Phoenicia and is now living alone in a small, neat apartment.

My husband, Sparrow, and I live in Phoenicia and were friends with Johnny in the early 2000s. For two summers, he used a patch of our garden to grow vegetables. At a couple of parties at our house, he played long, dazzling solo guitar improvisations. We drifted away from the relationship several years before he met Solane. In 2014, the couple asked Sparrow to perform a marriage ceremony for them —not a legal one, but it served to make their vows public. A year later, Sparrow presided over a second ceremony, renewing their vows.

On September 24, six months after Solane’s release from jail, she and I sat in her apartment and talked about her years with Johnny and her life since his passing. On the living room wall is a white guitar that belonged to Johnny. Small tables, draped in white or purple cloths, hold candles, feathers, a rosary, a Bible, a chunk of amethyst, a statue of the Buddhist goddess Kwan Yin. Among the several photos of Johnny is one with words written at the bottom: “May 23, 1951 – November 19, 2016 / Missing you today, remembering you forever.”

Let’s start with where you grew up and the family you grew up in.

SOLANE VERRAINE: I grew up in a suburb of Detroit, the eldest of four children. My dad was a design engineer who worked at Ford Motor Company and later as a consultant. My mom was a homemaker but was very involved in local politics and community activities. She was a Girl Scout leader, and she was on the school board for a while.

I was a very good student, graduated, and went to Michigan State University. I got degrees in social work and child development and went on to an advanced standing graduate program and received a masters in social work.

You lived in the Southwest for a while, didn’t you?

SV: I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for almost 30 years. I worked as a social worker and did private counseling. In 1993, I became very involved with my first spiritual teachers, Gangaji and Eli Jaxon Bear. I was part of their organization and was like a teacher/mentor in Eli’s Leela Foundation, combining social work and the spiritual offerings I received through them. I went there because of my second husband. I also worked with my second husband as the office manager and co-owner of a newspaper he ran.  

How did you meet Johnny?

I met Johnny online.

When did you move to Phoenicia?

We knew right off I was going to be here. I had a bad car accident in 2012, and things got delayed. I had a lot of repair, therapy, this and that, and was involved in a lawsuit that finally got mediated. I had a lot of injuries.  

There was some back and forth starting in 2014, but all my stuff completely got here in early spring of 2015.

What drew you to Johnny?

We were supposed to be together. [Tears come to her eyes.] The obvious. Anybody who meets Johnny, it’s obvious what’s wonderful about him. He’s amazingly good-looking, intelligent, creative, spiritual. I recognized right off, he had the capacity to love. A huge, huge, massive capacity to love.

It sounds intense. 

Oh, my goodness. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s putting it mildly.

What did you like to do together?

Before I got here, we were on Skype for pretty much 24/7, from the beginning of 2012. When I got here, he was sick. Sicker than people knew. He wasn’t in a lot of personal contact with many people, especially by 2013. People noticed a downhill turn, from what I heard. On Skype even. [Takes a deep, shaky breath and pauses.]

I used to see you out walking together. 

SV: When he was well enough, we loved to walk. There were therapeutic reasons why he needed to get up and walk. As badly as he felt, it was hard. But we loved to walk. We enjoyed nature very very much. We loved sharing healthy meals. He couldn’t cook, only maybe a couple of times in the whole time could he be up long enough to cook. For a period he could be on the Internet for a little bit. Sitting was extremely painful for the back condition he had. We loved to listen to music. I’ve always loved music, but he opened my music world.

What kind of music did you listen to?

All kinds. Most every day he’d choose a special love song for me.

You were his nurse at that point.

I was his nurse, wife, secretary. Our wedding day was last time he could actually get up and take a shower. I bathed him after that. A couple times he could shave himself, but mostly I shaved him.  

We loved to play card games. Occasionally it would be a little competitive, but we liked to help each other win. “Oh, you need this card? Well, I have this card.” We used to say “cookie.” “You need this cookie?” He was very sweet.

That must have been hard for you as he was declining.

[Long silence.] Before we go on, I have to take a little break. This is more intense than I expected. I had no expectations. Blessedly, I didn’t think too much about it. [Leaves the apartment for a few puffs of a cigarette, then returns.]

I had every feeling you can imagine. Anxiety, fear, sadness. He was actually admitted to the hospital eight times within two years, for anywhere from three weeks to three or four days. At times they wouldn’t admit him because they said they wouldn’t deal with structural issues. There were times when I called, and he said, “I’m not going.” There were times when I had to scream at the doctors to get him admitted. I’d swear at them. When they wouldn’t admit him, they said he needed to go to a specialist. With a huge amount of resistance on his part, I finally demanded he go to the specialist, the back doctor. He got MRIs and some diagnosis. He had several back conditions. If there’s going to be surgery with spondylolisthesis, you need six months to one and a half years of physical therapy before the surgery. He also had an enlarged disc and spinal arthritis and spinal stenosis. That’s just in the back, and there were so many other issues, a progressive degenerative condition he was born with, arthritis, systemic Lyme disease.

Each time he’d go in the hospital, we’d get excited, maybe he’d get a fresh start. They also detoxed him from the alcohol each time, which he’d had longer than people know. He was drinking a lot, progressively more and more because they gave him a few doses of pain med, but it’s a narcotic, addictive, and he did overuse them. I would take them, and he would sneak them, and so he’d run out of them. It was a whole bind, how can we get to the doctor without pain medication? 

Two or three times I made an appointment for the pain management clinic, and he would refuse to go. He’d look online and look at the options they had there. He’d say, “I’ve tried that, the patches, the physical therapy.” Twice I got him a prescription to go to physical therapy in Boiceville, and he would not go. He was not what you would call a compliant patient.

Was he still playing guitar?

Not much at all. His last public concert was in the summer of 2012. There were several opportunities. He got invited to New York City to play. He said, “I don’t have it any more.” He was in a very deep depression. Later, on top of the depression, was an inability to sit long enough. 

Did he play at all at home?

A little. Toward the end, with enough beer, he could get pain-free enough to play for an hour. When he was well, he said, he would practice six hours a day. I wanted him to play, and there was tension between us at those times. He was also forgetting a lot of his own music, from the depression and the alcohol. His brain was not functioning, and that was painful for him. too. But he tried. Till he just couldn’t try any more. [I] always had to gauge, ok we want to go for a walk, you have this much energy, practice guitar, work a little in garden. Had to make a choice. He was so tired all the time.

How did you cope? It seemed like a 24/7 crisis.

That’s exactly right, a 24/7 crisis. People saw us out enjoying [a walk], but I was always on edge. How far could he go without being down for three days afterwards? When he could, he would push the limits. Okay, is he going to fall in the middle of nowhere? We went hiking in the woods a few times. It was profoundly beautiful and profoundly stressful.

When he started — I’m sorry to have to ask you this, but it’s — when did he start talking about wanting to die?

May 2012. It was pretty much ongoing, on and off from them.

And when did he start asking you to help him die?

[Gets up and walks into bathroom, panting slightly, then returns.] It seems so cold to put this down in a newspaper. I thought I was ready for this. I didn’t expect to have that strong a reaction.

We could skip to jail.

Jail was not that bad. It just was not. 

Even though you were being arrested right after your husband died.

I was in shock. There had been discussion between Johnny and I — I’m not ready to tell the whole thing. As it finally came down to, he said, “You know you’re probably going to be in trouble.” And I said, “I’ve been in tough places before — I’ll manage.” I knew that, but I was in denial that I could be in trouble. I really thought people could just hear what happened and…

So you weren’t surprised.

I was surprised. Watching your husband die, and what kind of state you’re in at that point. I read a lot in jail. I remember reading a book called Ahab’s Wife. One character lost a child, and the women in the family gathered around her. She could throw herself off the rocks at this point, and I thought, they get that kind of loss. When you lose something dear to you, you don’t….I was surprised when I got arrested.

But once you got to jail…

I went back and forth. It’s a hard place to grieve. I couldn’t decide…I was in such grief, it was better I didn’t have to deal with going and getting food, I just had to eat. I did not have the grace of a formal ceremony. I did have some pictures, but can’t put them on the wall. I didn’t have any of his clothes — it would’ve been nice to just…but jail was not bad. It’s not what you think — at least it wasn’t for me. I was treated very well. Amazingly well. Awesomely well.

How did you feel during the ongoing process when the court was deciding what should be done?

I knew right off the murder charge wouldn’t stick. I was extremely relieved when the assisted suicide charge came from the grand jury. My lawyer said just hold on, there’s nothing here, just a process they have to go through, don’t worry. 

Still, it was quite a long time you were in jail.

Quite a long time. Except…[Long pause.] Someone, an inmate, made the comment, “You’re in jail, but not you’re not in jail, are you?” I said, “No, I’m not in jail.” She said, “I’d like to be where you are.”

How did you feel when you were sentenced to two to seven years?

I was ecstatic. Everyone else around me was disappointed. I have so much respect for Judge Williams. I could see his point he made. It was not capricious. I could see how well thought-out it had been. I was in awe of him. I said to somebody, “I feel like I’m in church right now.” His point was, “I’m not a legislator.” If spending some time in prison will help legislate, I’m happy to do it. It’s about more than just me and Johnny. Bringing attention to the issue [of assisted suicide] could change things in a larger way.

Everybody in jail was like, “You don’t belong here.” They said that within the first week. Everyone said, “You’re a good inmate, you’ll get the lower end [of the sentence].” I’m fairly intuitive, and I said, “I think I’m going to get the middle.” There are these things between me and Johnny, knowings, signs. On the way to the sentencing, I knew it was going to be all right. 

And the next morning the judge changed his mind. What was that like?

I was happy. Grateful is a better word. Extremely grateful. There were a couple of people who had said, when you’re done, you can stay here until something opens up for you. I was blessed. The system does fall short for many people that aren’t as blessed as I am to have the support. Some people, if they don’t have a ride, they’re given their little bag and [waves good-bye]. 

Tell me how it’s been since then.

There’s been challenges. But I’ve been supported in amazing ways.

How has the whole experience changed you?

That would take a book. Meeting Johnny was the most blessed thing that’s ever happened in my life.