Appellate court upholds conviction for Moreau man who shot, paralyzed neighbor | Crime and Courts

Joey M. Castro was sentenced on Dec. 17, 2018 to 36 2/3 to 46 years in state jail after being convicted of felony assault, prison use of a firearm, reckless endangerment, prison possession of a weapon and failure to register a weapon.

Castro shot Michael Desnoyers on Oct. 8, 2017 in Desnoyers’ storage. The incident stemmed from a dispute at a celebration. Castro made lewd feedback to Desnoyers’ girlfriend, Rebecca Lackey.

Castro was additionally making remarks about boxing abilities with Desnoyers’ stepson Charles Miles. Castro later turned irate, left the get together and returned with an AR-15-style rifle, firing eight pictures into the storage. Desnoyers was struck within the again and paralyzed.

Castro’s legal professional, William Montgomery, filed an attraction with the New York State Supreme Court docket Appellate Division, Third Judicial Division on a number of points.

Through the trial, Montgomery had tried to forged doubt on whether or not his shopper fired the gun as a result of he has an similar twin brother named Jeffrey Castro.

Within the attraction, Montgomery mentioned that constructive identification of Joey Castro was unattainable within the low degree of sunshine outdoors the storage and the truth that he has a twin brother. Nevertheless, the courtroom rejected this argument on the grounds that witnesses at trial testified that the brothers had been carrying totally different clothes they usually had been distinguishable in the way in which their voices sounded. As well as, the sufferer acknowledged that he may see Castro’s face mild up each time he shot the gun.

The justices additionally rejected the declare that Montgomery was not capable of introduce an argument that Castro was beneath the affect of prescription treatment. He took the anti-depression and nervousness medication Paxil and trazodone.

They mentioned that Castro had been arraigned in Saratoga County Court docket in April 2018 and didn’t file discover of a psychiatric protection till August 2018 — nicely after the 30-day required by statute. Nevertheless, the courtroom did enable the introduction of a video containing an interview by police by which Castro was exhibiting regarding behaviors.

The trial was postponed a month to permit Castro to be examined. Nevertheless, Castro’s legal professional didn’t authorize the discharge of data or enable prosecutors to talk along with his medical suppliers. The appellate justices mentioned that the protection can not try to make use of a psychological situation as a protection at trial, however not launch the pertinent info.

The appellate justices additionally rejected Montgomery’s argument that the state police had elicited involuntary statements from Castro when he was in custody.

The appellate courtroom additionally dismissed the declare that Castro’s sentence was extreme. They wrote: “though he County Court docket imposed the utmost allowable jail sentence for every conviction, given the abhorrent conduct and grievous harm to the sufferer, and the danger of significant harm confronted by Lackey and Miles as a result of defendant’s actions, we decline his invitation to cut back his sentence within the curiosity of justice.”

The appellate courtroom did discover in Castro’s favor on one concern. Montgomery had additionally challenged the conviction of failure to register an assault rifle on the grounds that testimony at trial confirmed that Jeffrey Castro had bought the weapon and owns it, though he allowed his brother to make use of it.

The appellate justices agreed and dismissed the cost on the grounds that “the proof was not legally enough to assist the conviction.”

The matter was despatched again to Saratoga County Court docket for additional proceedings. Castro has not been incarcerated. His legal professional, William Montgomery, bought a keep of the sentence pending attraction. He has been launched on $250,000 bond.