Friday, October 23, 2009
BY ANN GIBBONS
Freeman staff
KINGSTON — An Ulster County jury Thursday afternoon convicted a 66-year-old Newburgh man in the shooting death of his 52-year-old girlfriend at her home in Milton last October.
The defendant, Eddie Thompson Jr., had previously been indicted on a felony second-degree murder charge in the death of Frances Johnson on Oct. 28, 2008. A jury of six men and six women convicted Thompson of first-degree manslaughter, which carries a lesser prison term.
Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright said that asking a jury to decide on such a case is a very difficult thing. The jurors were “very serious, very appropriate,” he said. “No one wins here.”
Carnright said the jury reached the verdict at 3 p.m. after deliberating about 10 hours. The prosecution rested its case late Tuesday afternoon and the jury received the case on Wednesday, he said.
An autopsy concluded that Johnson had been struck by two gunshots, one to her shoulder and one to her face. Authorities said the bullet that entered her shoulder was likely the fatal shot because it penetrated her neck artery.
Johnson’s 14-year-old daughter and 2-year-old granddaughter were home at the time of the shooting, authorities said.
Thompson surrendered to authorities immediately after police, responding to a report of shots being fired at Johnson’s home, found him in the house.
During the trial, Carnright said, he presented proof to the jury that Thompson had pistol-whipped Johnson and shot her twice. He said the key to the prosecution’s case was the gunpowder residue pattern surrounding the victim’s bullet wounds.
State police Tech. Sgt. Dennis Lyons test-fired the murder weapon and compared the tests to the victim’s injuries, according to Carnright. Lyons testified that the weapon was fired at a distance closer than 18 inches on each shot, he said.
The defendant, represented by Ulster County Public Defender Andy Kossover, told the jury that the weapon went off by accident as Thompson was unloading it in Johnson’s kitchen.
However, the prosecutor, in his closing remarks, argued the defendant’s story was inconsistent with evidence found at the crime scene.
“What we found at the crime scene was very close, very violent,” Carnright said. “The defendant’s version could not have happened. There was a lot of personal violence.”
Carnright said the jury was not allowed to receive evidence about the motive for the crime. He said two witnesses were prepared to testify about the defendant’s jealous, controlling nature and the victim’s growing fear of him, but the court ruled that such evidence would have been too prejudicial to the defendant.
Carnright said the court also ruled, in fairness to the defendant, that the jury could not have access to the victim’s diary.
“But,” he said, “I read every word and the picture that emerged was chilling.”
Carnright said Johnson had lost her husband about a year before Thompson entered her life. The relationship between them began around April 2008 and ended with her death.
In her diary, she initially describes how helpful he is to her, that he was the answer to her prayers, that they were becoming interested in each other, and that Thompson, in June 2008, had asked her to marry him.
As Johnson’s diary progresses, however, a different picture of Thompson, whom she called “E.J.,” starts to come forth — that of a “crazy, insane” jealous man, Carnright said Thursday.
He said Johnson concludes in her diary that she thinks the relationship won’t work out. “The last passage,” Carnright said, was “I hope the next entry will be happier.”
Johnson was killed before she could make another entry.
“This one was a tough one for me,” Carnright said. “Reading her diary made me feel as if I knew her.”
Thompson is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 10.
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