New York: New prosecutor named for July trial in trooper's death
Jury selection is scheduled to begin July 5 for Almond Upton's murder trial in the death of New York State Trooper Christopher Skinner.
The trial is expected to span a month in Broome County Judge Joseph Cawley's courtroom and will be handled by Special ProsecutorBenjamin Bergman, a Binghamton defense attorney and former prosecutor. His assignment, effective Jan. 2, is because of a conflict of interest with new personnel in the Broome County District Attorney's Office.
With major cases such as the Upton trial, any conflict or even the appearance of a conflict needs to be addressed, District Attorney Stephen Cornwell said Friday. Mark Loughran, now an assistant district attorney, worked in the Broome County Public Defender's Office while it was representing Upton.
"It's a normal outcome after a change in administration that there would be some conflicts," Cornwell said. "The court and the DA's office has a process for how to handle it."
Bergman was an assistant district attorney in Broome County from 2002 to 2011, before he entered private practice. On Friday, he said his law firm's resources along with the state police would be used for Upton's trial. Pretrial hearings are planned in March.
"We're getting caught up," Bergman said. "We have a lot of work to do going through the (case) file."
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Upton, 62, of Florida, has pleaded not guilty to an indictment of 11 charges, the most serious of which is a felony count of first-degree murder that carries a possible life sentence in state prison upon conviction. Upton remains held in the Broome County jail.
Officials say Skinner, 42, of Kirkwood, was killed May 29, 2014, when a pickup truck driven by Upton struck the trooper during a traffic stop on Interstate 81. Skinner was a 13-year veteran of the state police.
Court filings have indicated Upton's trial defense could involve psychiatric evidence of mental disease or defect. In August 2014, the Broome County Public Defender's Office filed a notice of intent to present such evidence to a jury.
Defense attorneys said Upton might not be criminally responsible because of mental illness that rendered him incapable of intentionally committing the crimes he’s charged with. No specific mental illness was named in the court filing.
On the evening of May 29, 2014, a handcuffed Upton ranted about a "time warp," as police led him from Chenango Town Court after he was taken into custody.
Upton told investigators he was en route to Connecticut to visit his mother at the time. He did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he struck Skinner, state police said.
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