POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess County prosecutors will seek the maximum sentence for Jalil Smith, 35, who was acquitted of attempted murder of a police officer last week but convicted on several other felonies. Smith has been to prison before after a conviction for criminal possession of a weapon.
Last week the jury returned to Dutchess County Court Judge Edward McLoughlin’s courtroom with guilty verdicts on the charges of attempted aggravated assault of a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon, which was the screwdriver Smith stabbed the officer with, and two counts of assault; one for each of the two City of Poughkeepsie police officers with whom he fought.
Smith will be sentenced by Judge McLoughlin on October 18, 2023. The aggravated assault charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. Each of the two assault convictions has a seven-year maximum prison sentence, and the weapons conviction also has a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. The Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office is researching case law to determine if the sentences can be served consecutively.
District Attorney Bureau Chief Frank Petramale, who prosecuted the case along with Senior ADA Andrea Long, told Mid-Hudson News that he will be seeking a lengthy prison sentence for the convicted felon. “Based upon Mr. Smith’s heinous and violent conduct which put the lives of those two officers at risk, the People will seek the maximum term of incarceration allowed by law.”
During the trial, the jury watched body-worn camera footage from both Sergeant Edwin Acken and Devon Zanin, which showed Smith charging at Acken and stabbing him in the neck, in response to Acken saying, “Hey. How are you?” Petramale said the camera footage was not ineffective as evidence because it showed the jury that Smith intended to cause serious physical injury to Acken, intended to prevent the officers from performing their…
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