KINGSTON – An Ulster County Court jury has convicted a New York City man of promoting prison contraband for possession an exacto-type razor blade while being transferred from Rikers Island to Ulster Correctional Facility.
The jury of one man and 11 women found James Casey, 22, guilty of possession the weapon on Friday, October 18
When sentenced in December by Judge Donald Williams, Casey faces a potential 3 ½ to seven years in state prison to run consecutively to his current sentence.
Casey has several prior felony convictions including one in 2017 for attempted assault. In that case, after being sentenced in Manhattan on charges of robbery, attempted gang assault and attempted robbery, he slashed a corrections officer in the head and neck with a razor blade causing serious injury.
At his Kingston trial, several corrections officers testified including the officer who found the exacto-knife. Other witnesses including a serologist and DNA analyst from the State Police Crime Lab testified that a DNA profile was obtained on the weapon, but Casey refused to follow a court order directing him to submit a DNA sample for comparison.
