HIGH PROFILE CASES

The following are some of the cases litigated personally

by former District Attorney Donald A. Williams

 

 

*Jeffery Damiano- Damiano, aided by two others, dropped a 52 lb. boulder from a New York State overpass onto a vehicle driven by Ulster County resident Karen Zentner, causing her death.  Damiano was convicted after trial of depraved indifference murder. 

 

*Eric Birdsall- Birdsall acted as Damiano’s accomplice in orchestrating and assisting Damiano in dropping the boulder onto Karen Zentner’s vehicle.  Birdsall was convicted after trial of manslaughter.

 

*Robert Bonnelli- Def. entered the Hudson Valley Mall on a Saturday and fired 60 rounds into a crowded plaza striking an off duty national guardsman and causing him devastating injury to his leg.  Bonnelli was convicted of all counts and sentenced to 32 yrs.

 

*Larry Whitehurst- Whitehurst abducted and bludgeoning murder of 7 yr. old Rickel Knox.  The first capital prosecution in New York State under the NY State Legislature passed the -----Law.  Williams, Chief Assistant District Attorney at the time, joined Hon. E. Michael Kavanagh in the prosecution.  Whitehurst was convicted of Murder 1^st and sentenced to life in prison without any chance of parole.

 

*Robert Provost- Provost operated a nursing home in Kingston.  Provost bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars from his elderly and infirmed patients.  In a joint investigation with the NY State Attorney General, District Attorney Williams indicted Provost with multiple counts of Grand Larceny in the First Degree.  Mr. Provost was convicted of all counts and sentenced to a maximum of 5-15 years.  Provost was also ordered to make full restitution to the victims and their families.  In a separate action, D.A. Williams secured an Ulster County Grand Jury Report recommending legislative change at the state level requiring the NY State Department of Health to monitor the operation of Nursing Homes.

 

*Willie Bosket- While imprisoned at Shawangunk, a maximum secure facility in Ulster County, Bosket attempted to murder a correction officer by stabbing him in the chest with an 11inch shank.  At the time of the attack, Willie Bosket was reputed to be the worst criminal being held in NY State Prisons.  In the early 1970’s, he murdered three people on the subways of NYC during a period of just three weeks.  He was 15 at the time of the murders.  He told the press that he committed the assaults for the pure joy of killing.  Bosket was convicted of Attempted Murder in the First Degree and sentenced to life in prison.

 

*Chambers Gillis- Gillis burglarized the residence of a young woman in Milton, Ulster County.  During the course of his theft he struck her with a metal rod causing her death.  Gillis was convicted after jury trial of manslaughter.

 

*Karl Ahlers- Ahlers was a card carrying member of NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association).  NAMBLA advocates legalizing sexual relations between men and young children.  He lured 8 children ages 8-13 to his summer home in Chichester, Ulster County where he repeatedly sexually abused them.  Ahlers was convicted after trial of all Counts of the indictment and sentenced to the maximum period of incarceration.  Ahlers was the first person to be held in prison after serving his maximum term as as a result of changes in the Mental Health Law.  

 

*Michael Bessard- Bessard was convicted after trial of murder in the drug related execution of Kingston resident Charles Lindsay.

 

*Jared Bozydaj- Bozydaj held the entire village of New Paltz hostage by firing hundreds of rounds from a semi-automatic weapon rifle.   Ultimately, he was captured but only after a Dep. Sheriff was shot and wounded.  Bozydaj was convicted of all counts of the indictment.

 

*Vincent Zeh- Zeh committed the domestic violence murder of his estranged wife by stabbing her 31 times.  The murder occurred in the presence of their infant child.  Although the case was predicated exclusively upon circumstantial evidence, Zeh was convicted after trial of Murder.

 

*Spyridon and George Fiorvantes-   The Fiorvantes brothers were NY City drug dealers affiliated with the Gambino Crime family.  Spyridon Fiorvantes was convicted of Criminal Sale of a substantial amount of heroin and sentenced to 20 years in prison.  George Fiorvantes was delivered to the custody of the U.S. Marshall’s Office for federal prosecution.

 

*Thomas Selear   Convicted after trial of the shooting death of a local business owner.  Selear’s claim of the mental disease and defect defense was unanimously rejected by the jury

 

*Atalino Gamez- Gamez was a former high ranking officer in the Nicaraguan Army and a major player in international drug trafficking, wanted by Miami Dade Police.  Gamez was arrested after a multiple agency sting operation and charged with the conspiracy to traffic 7 lbs of pure cocaine into the Hudson Valley area.  Gamez was convicted after jury trial of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree and sentenced to the maximum period allowed by law.

 

*Hart, Ryan, Proctor, Beuther and Lyons- Prisoners at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility, serving life sentences for murder, who planed and succeeded in breaking out from this maximum secure facility.  All defendants were convicted of Escape in the first degree.

 

 *Adam Robert- Roberts intentionally killed his parents at their weekend home Woodstock.  His sole motive was his parent’s interference with his attempts to sustain his heroin addiction.  He then burned their home to the ground to cover his crime.  Roberts was convicted of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to life in prison.

 

*Joseph Pierce- Pierce abducted a young Ellenville resident from a Laundromat.  After sexually assaulting her, he stabbed her and threw her from a cliff where she was left to die.  Pierce was convicted after trial of Murder and sentenced to life in prison.

 

 

*Antonio Navarro- Navarro and his accomplice, David Cruz, seized a 15 year old girl from her mother’s car and over the course of three days, repeatedly sexually assaulted her.  The victim was then gagged, hog tied and abandoned in a shack at an apple orchard in Milton NY.  The victim escaped her bonds and reported her attack to the police.  The defendants were located after a State wide search by the NYSP and FBI and charged with Kidnapping in the first degree, the highest level crime in New York.  Navarro was convicted after trial and sentenced to life in prison.

 

*Eric and Walter Swartz. The Swartz brothers sought out a victim of Latino descent to rob and assault.  In the early morning hours, they located a Mexican National, and repeatedly struck him in the head with an aluminum baseball bat, rifled his pockets and stole his weeks’ pay.  The victim survived and testified before the Ulster County Grand Jury resulting in indictments for multiple felonies.  The defendants were convicted of all counts of the indictment and sentenced to 32 years in prison.  The victim recovered and is living and working in Ulster County.