Prison for Man Who Shot Girlfriend while Displaying New Gun

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Written by LANNING TALIAFERRO (Patch Staff)

Christian Benson, 27, of Cornwall, NY, was sentenced by Orange County Court Judge Robert Freehill Sept. 16 to three to nine years in state prison for killing his live-in girlfriend with a handgun.

On July 27, 2015, Benson was convicted by an Orange County Court Jury of Manslaughter in the Second Degree.

During the jury trial prosecutors argued that Benson acted recklessly in killing his girlfriend with a newly purchased .9 mm semiautomatic handgun. Benson’s attorneys had argued that the discharge of the gun was accidental. Prosecutors alleged that on August 16, 2013, Benson was showing a newly purchased .9mm semiautomatic handgun to his live-in girlfriend. Benson had the gun loaded with his finger on the trigger and pointed at the victim when he was showing it to her. The weapon discharged killing the young woman. Prosecutors had recommended that Benson be sentenced to five to 15 years in prison.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the New York State Police and the Town of Cornwall Police Department for their assistance in the investigation of the case.

“State prison is the only just sentence given this defendant’s reckless conduct that cost an innocent young woman her life,” said District Attorney Hoovler. “While I fully support the right of law-abiding citizens to possess guns, the license to possess a handgun is not a license to act recklessly. The jury correctly determined that this tragic death was not merely an accident, but was the result of a conscious decision by this defendant to put another at risk of death by the reckless way he mishandled his handgun, and for that he must be held accountable. As Judge Freehill stated during the sentencing, this defendant has no one blame but himself.”

District Attorney Hoovler highly commended Senior Assistant District Attorney Michael Milza who handled the prosecution of the case.

Patch file photo.