Deal for one murder suspect?
Lawyer for man charged in homicide believes co-defendant cooperating
One of the three men charged in the shooting death of Kingston resident Mark Lancaster might have struck a deal with prosecutors, a defense lawyer says.
Paul Gruner, the attorney for one of the other suspects, said Tuesday in Ulster County Court that Maurice Stansberry Jr. could be a witness for the prosecution in the upcoming trial over the Dec. 1, 2018, killing.
Gruner asked County Judge Donald A. Williams during a pretrial hearing to require the prosecution to provide a transcript of statements Stansberry Jr. allegedly made to police about the shooting.
Stansberry Jr., 18, his father, Maurice Stansberry Sr., 38, and Kevin Gardener, 18, have been
charged with second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of Lancaster on Sawkill Road in the town of Ulster. Authorities allege the three men robbed Lancaster of marijuana and, following a chance and confrontation, Stansberry Sr. shot Lancaster.
Stansberry Jr. and Gardener have been charged under the state’s felony murder statute because, although neither is accused of pulling the trigger, they allegedly acted in concert with Stansberry Sr. in robbing Lancaster.
Gruner is representing Gardener.
In court Tuesday, Gruner told Williams a transcript of Stansberry Jr.’s recorded statement is necessary for the “ability of the defense to properly cross-[examine] ... what I expect to be a witness by virtue of his absence from this hearing.”
Outside of the courtroom, Gruner said he believes Stansberry Jr. cut a deal with the prosecution in exchange for his testimony when the other two defendants are tried.
“The biggest indication is he’s not here, which means he’s cut a deal of some sort,” Gruner said.
Stansberry Jr. has not been present for any of the pretrial proceedings in Williams’ court, which began last week. He also is the only one of the three suspects to have been released on bail.
Ulster County Assistant District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji would not address Gruner’s contention Tuesday, saying only: “I don’t know where they get that impression, but is up to” Stansberry Jr.’s attorney.
Stansberry Jr.’s lawyer, Joseph O’Connor, could not be reached for comment after Tuesday’s proceeding.
Williams is conducting pretrial hearings to determine what evidence the prosecution will be able to use during the murder trial.
Currently, Stansberry Sr. and Gardener are scheduled to be tried together starting July 22, though county Assistant Public Defender Russell Schindler, who is representing Stansberry Sr., said he would file a motion Wednesday asking for the men to be tried separately.
Schindler said separate trials are necessary in order to protect his client’s constitutional right to face his accuser after Williams ruled text messages from Gardener connecting the gun used in the Lancaster killing to Stansberry and a robbery allegedly committed by the three last fall could be used at trial.
On Tuesday, the third day of the hearings, Williams ruled the prosecution can ask Stansberry Sr. about some of his past convictions if he takes the witness stand. Williams said prosecutors can ask Stansberry Sr. about a felony arrest in 2006 for criminal sale of a controlled substance, however the judge said Nneji could not ask about the details of that arrest, including what the arrest was for.
Williams also said prosecutors could ask about the date, time and location of arrests for criminal trespassing, resisting arrest and endangering the welfare of a child, though not about any of the details of those crimes. Williams ruled a handful of other convictions were so far in the past that the prosecutor was precluded by law from bringing them up at trial.
Williams still must rule on whether dozens of other text messages that Nneji said show the three murder suspects were acting in concert to plan the robbery can be used at trial.
Authorities have said Lancaster was killed shortly after the three defendants robbed him during a drug deal and after Lancaster and two others chased the Stansberrys and Gardener to Sawkill Road in the town of Ulster.
Defense attorney Joseph O’Connor, who represents Stansberry Jr., said during prior court appearances that a dash cam video shows the three people who chased the suspects from the scene of the robbery, including Lancaster, get out of their car on Sawkill Road, approach the suspects’ car and try to assault Stansberry Jr. At that point, O’Connor and Nneji have said, a single shot was fired, striking Lancaster.