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General News: uilty Verdict in Handgun Shooting Fatality
August 01, 2015
From the office of Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler
District Attorney Hoovler Announces Guilty Verdict in Handgun Shooting Fatality
Defendant Who Killed Live-In Girlfriend With a Handgun Convicted of Manslaughter
Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Monday, July 27, 2015, Christian Benson, 27, of Cornwall, was convicted of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, following a jury trial before Orange County Court Judge Robert H. Freehill. Benson faces a maximum term of five to fifteen years in prison when he is sentenced on September 16, 2015.
Prosecutors alleged that on August 16, 2013, Benson was showing a newly purchased .9mm semiautomatic handgun to his live-in girlfriend. Benson had the gun loaded with his finger on the trigger and pointed at the victim when he was showing it to her. The weapon discharged killing the young woman.
District Attorney Hoovler thanked the New York State Police and the Town of Cornwall Police Department for their assistance in the investigation of the case.
“The evidence in this case clearly supported the jury’s determination that this defendant’s reckless conduct cost an innocent young woman her life,” said District Attorney Hoovler. “While I fully support the right of law-abiding citizens to possess guns, the license to possess a handgun is not a license to act recklessly. The jury correctly determined that this tragic death was not merely an accident, but was the result of a conscious decision by this defendant to put another at risk of death by the reckless way he mishandled his handgun, and for that he must be held accountable.”
District Attorney Hoovler highly commended Senior Assistant District Attorney Michael Milza.
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.
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