February 04, 2010 4:54 PM
GOSHEN — An Orange County Court jury on Thursday convicted Robert Lee Williams of stabbing his girlfriend to death, but decided it was a case of manslaughter, not intentional murder.
Town of Newburgh police found Anna Tift, who was 25, lifeless on a couch in her second-floor apartment in Middle Hope early in the morning of June 20. She had been stabbed in the throat with such force that the knife blade penetrated one of her shoulders, and the handle of the knife broke.
Williams, 26, also had stab wounds. At least one of them was self-inflicted.
He told police that he “punched the hell” out Tift in her apartment, after an argument that followed a night of drinking. He also testified during the trial, but said that Tift was the aggressor, slapping and punching him and grabbing a knife out of his hand and stabbing him. He said he brought the knives out of her kitchen and into her living room as the argument intensified.
During the trial, the jury saw a copy of Williams' videotaped confession to town police. They asked to view it again while they deliberated Thursday.
Williams faces up to 25 years in state prison when he's sentenced March 4 by Judge Robert Freehill. Williams already has a felony weapon-possession conviction on his record, from 2007 in Brooklyn.
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