GOSHEN – A former Middletown man, who was convicted of possessing a weapon and assaulting his wife, has lost the appeal of his conviction.
James Youngberg, 52, was convicted by an Orange County Court jury in September 2016 of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, menacing and assault.
He was sentenced to 13 years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision.
He argued before the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court that the county court erred by admitting into evidence an audio recording of a call made by his wife to Middletown City Police. That was rejected along with his contention that county court erred in admitting into evidence, over his objection, testimony from one of the prosecution’s police witnesses regarding the nature of a radio transmission. “The court providently exercised its discretion in admitting the officer’s testimony regrading the nature of the radio transmission to complete the narrative of events leading to the defendant’s arrest,” the appellate justices wrote in their October 13, 2021 decision.
According to the police account of the incident, on January 2, 2015, after Youngberg had been drinking for about three hours, a dispute erupted between the victim and himself.
He approached her with a pistol in his outstretched hand. The victim grabbed the gun ad Youngberg fled.
He was proven to be the owner of the gun because his DNA was found on three bullets in the pistol’s magazine.
