Man pleads guilty to Marlborough shooting
A Newburgh man who shot a female friend in the face on Feb. 26 in Marlborough after a night of drinking pleaded guilty Friday to felony assault, according to the office of the Ulster County Court clerk.
Darren J. Olympia, 22, entered his plea before County Judge Donald A. Williams, the clerk’s office said.
Olympia was indicted by an Ulster County grand jury in June for “recklessly shooting” the 21-year-old woman, the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office said at the time.
Olympia’s lawyer, William J. Garvin of Newburgh, said his client faced a maximum sentence of 2-1/3 to seven years in state prison but, in exchange for the guilty plea, the judge agreed to sentence him to a maximum of six months in the Ulster County Jail followed by five years of probation, and possibly only the probation.
Olympia’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 21, according to the court.
Ulster County Assistant District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji, who prosecuted Olympia, could not be reached for comment Friday.
Garvin said Olympia and the victim, who has not been identified, were friends who knew each other since the seventh or eighth grade. He called the shooting “a terrible accident” that proves “you don’t mix alcohol with a weapon.”
Olympia’s lawyer called his client “a good guy” who had never been arrested before.
“He’s just a hard-working, real nice guy, and a terrible accident happened with some criminal liability,” Garvin said.
A previous press release from the district attorney said that, “for no justifiable reason,” after a night of drinking in Newburgh, Olympia returned to 32 Bingham Road in Marlborough with the woman and then shot her in the forehead and “blew out her facial bones.”
The shooting happened about 4:10 a.m., and Olympia was arrested by state police later the same day. He originally was charged with both felony assault and reckless endangerment.
Olympia was released from the Ulster County Jail Feb. 27 on $50,000 bond.