POUGHKEEPSIE – Fishkill resident Peter Churchill, 33, has entered a guilty plea on two counts of felony assault for crimes committed on May 20, 2020. The Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office is recommending 22 years in prison on each count, to be served concurrently. The DA is also asking for five years of post-release supervision, according to Bureau Chief Sara Thompson.
Churchill stabbed his mother, Diane Churchill, several times in the face and neck during an attack in the victim’s townhouse in 2020. Fishkill Police Lieutenant Paul Schettino said that after the attack, the son fled the scene in a car, striking and killing a pedestrian as he was leaving the neighborhood. The pedestrian went through the vehicle’s windshield and died. Churchill abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot. He was found a short time later in the woods behind the Fishkill Bowl and was arrested by Fishkill police.
Churchill had been charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal contempt, vehicular manslaughter, and DWI when he was arrested by the Town of Fishkill Police on May 21, 2020. The original story of the arrest can be found HERE.
