Conviction stands in 2013 killing of fiancee
A state appeals court on Thursday upheld the conviction and sentence of a Denning man for the March 2013 beating death of his fiancée, according to the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office.
The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Third Department, unanimously affirmed Gerald Babcock’s November 2013 conviction for manslaughter and the sentence of 25 years in state prison that Ulster County Judge Donald A. Williams handed down a month later, the prosecutor’s office said.
Babcock’s fiancée, Jamielynn Bleakley, 36, who suffered from multiple sclerosis, died on March 7, 2013, a day after Babcock “beat her about the head, causing severe head trauma, brain swelling and two large subdural hematomas,” the District Attorney’s office said Thursday.
Babcock also “strangled her, and then dragged her outside into the freezing winter weather, down a set of stairs, where he left her, barely conscious and hardly breathing, to die,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Bleakley’s death was attributed to multiple bluntforce injuries, strangulation and a traumatic brain injury.
On appeal, Babcock challenged a pretrial ruling that allowed evidence of his prior acts of domestic violence against Bleakley to be admitted, and he claimed the imposition of the maximum sentence was unduly harsh and excessive.
He also claimed the trial court erred when it failed to instruct five courtroom spectators to remove purple ribbons they were wearing to signify opposition to domestic violence.
The appeals court rejected all of Babcock’s arguments.
During Babcock’s trial, Ulster County Public Defender Andrew Kossover said the suspect was a domestic abuser but did not cause Bleakley’s death. He said Bleakley died from injuries suffered when she hit her head after falling down a set of stairs.
County Assistant District Attorney Michael Kavanagh said the autopsy showed Bleakley’s injuries were “inconsistent with a fall.”
Authorities said Babcock called 911 the morning of March 6, 2013, and reported Bleakley had fallen at their residence at 8 Woodfield Road in Denning. Emergency responders found Bleakley face down in the snow at the bottom of a small set of steps, wearing only sweatpants, sneakers and a T-shirt that was pulled up above her breasts. She was covered with a blanket and sheets of plywood, authorities said.
Babcock was arrested on March 11 and indicted for manslaughter on March 26.
Babcock has a long criminal history that includes a felony conviction in New Jersey for assaulting his pregnant girlfriend with a baseball bat, the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office said previously.