Orange County News

For Immediate Release                                     Contact: Christopher Borek
June 25, 2018                                               845.291.3276, 845.238.4245c

District Attorney Hoovler Announces Guilty Plea in 

Town of Newburgh Homicide Case

Defendant Admits Fatally Stabbing Man in the Defendant’s Home

District Attorney’s Office to Recommend Twenty Years State Prison Sentence

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Monday, June 25, 2018, Christopher Smith, 44, of the Town of Newburgh, pled guilty before Orange County Court Judge William DeProspo to Manslaughter in the First Degree, in connection with the April 2017 fatal stabbing of a man who had been staying in Smith’s home. At the time that Smith pled guilty, prosecutors stated that they would be recommending that he be sentenced to twenty years in state prison when he is sentenced on August 13, 2018.

At the time that he pled guilty, Smith admitted that, while he was in his home in the Town of Newburgh in April 2017, he stabbed the man in the neck with a knife. Smith admitted that he had intended to cause serious physical injury to the man, and that the man died as a result of the knife wounds. The New York State Police had received a report from the deceased man’s family on June 30, 2017, that he was missing. As a result of an investigation into the man’s disappearance, on October 24, 2017, members of the State Police discovered the man’s remains buried in a large planter outside of Smith’s residence.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the New York State Police for their investigation of the case and for the defendant’s arrest.

“The unlawful taking of another human life is among the worst crimes that one can commit,” said District Attorney Hoovler, “and the likelihood of killing increases dramatically when a person chooses to use a weapon. My office will seek lengthy prison sentences for those who resort to violence and weapons to settle disputes. I only hope that the recovery of the victim’s body and this guilty plea will bring some measure of closure to the victim’s family.”

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Steven Goldberg and Eliza Filipowski.

A 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.