Man convicted of killing coworker loses his appeal
The man who shot and killed his coworker at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s Midtown Kingston offices in 2014 lost an appeal of his murder conviction on Thursday, Nov. 1.
David Reese, 58, was convicted of second-degree murder in Ulster County Court on Aug. 13, 2015, in the Feb. 3, 2014, shooting death of Aron Thomas, of Olivebridge, a married, 33-year-old father of two young children.
Ulster County Court Judge Donald A. Williams sentenced Re-
ese, of Gilboa, to the maximum of 25 years to life in prison.
On Thursday, the state Appellate Division’s Third Department unanimously affirmed Reese’s conviction.
Reese fatally shot Thomas following a confrontation in the Department of Environmental Protection’s building at 71 Smith Ave., where the two men worked.
In an eight-page decision, the appellate court overruled Reese’s claim that the shooting was accidental and that he was not guilty because of extreme emotional disturbance and “by reason of mental disease or defect.”
The decision states, “evidence of defendant’s conduct both before and after the shooting … clearly established defendant’s intent to kill. The People submitted proof that defendant and the victim were not friendly with one another and generally did not speak to each other based upon a long-simmering tension that had developed as a result of, among other things, defendant’s belief that the victim was racist and had previously burglarized his home and was stalking/surveilling him and his family.”
During the trial, Reese claimed that Thomas had broken into and bugged his Schoharie County home and that Thomas and Thomas’ wife, Susan, were stalking him. Reese said the gun, which he claimed to have routinely brought to work, accidentally went off during a struggle after Reese confronted Thomas about the alleged break-in.
On the Friday before the shooting, the ruling states, Reese purchased ammunition for his pistol and arrived at work on the day of the shooting with a loaded gun.
“We find that a valid line of reasoning and permissible inferences exist from which the jury could conclude that defendant possessed the requisite intent to shoot and kill the victim,” the court ruling states.
In regard to Reese’s claim that the sentence was “unduly harsh and excessive,” the court ruled that although Reese had no prior criminal history, “given the violent and senseless nature of this crime and his lack of remorse for having unjustifiably shot and killed his coworker ... we reject the claim that County Court’s imposition of the maximum sentence constituted an abuse of discretion and find no extraordinary circumstances that would warrant our modification of defendant’s sentence in the interest of justice.”
On appeal, Reese was represented by Arthur G. Dunn of Troy. Hannah E.C. Moore of the New York Prosecutor’s Training Institute handled the appeal for the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office.