Attempted murder conviction reversed over lack of evidence

Listen to this article

A state appeals court has reversed multiple convictions, including attempted murder, because of a lack of evidence.

Defendant Leroy Bowden was convicted in August 2020 before state Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Hogan of first-degree assault, second-degree gang assault, four counts of second-degree burglary, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

In April 2024, Schenectady County Court Judge Matthew Sypniewski denied Bowden’s CPL 440.10 motion to vacate the judgment of conviction without a hearing.

On Dec. 26, 2018, the victim was shot in the entrance hallway of an apartment in Schenectady.

The police investigation revealed that the victim had an argument with a man who initially left the scene, but returned with a group of men, leading to a physical fight and the shooting.

The wounded victim identified one of the men in the group, which led to the remaining individuals — including Bowden, who was seen earlier that day at another location with a handgun.

The police did not recover a gun in connection with the shooting, but they found a single shell casing which was determined to have been ejected from the weapon.

Bowden and two codefendants were indicted on multiple charges, including attempted second-degree murder.

The prosecution claimed that Bowden was an accomplice for seven of the charges, and the principal actor for the other two.

He was acquitted on the first count but convicted of all the others. Bowden was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision.

He filed a 440 motion to vacate his conviction, which was denied without a hearing. He appealed the convictions and the order denying the 440 motion to the Third Department.

Bowden’s appellate attorney argued that the verdict is not supported by legally sufficient evidence and that it is contrary to the weight of the evidence because the prosecutor failed to present any evidence that Bowden provided the handgun used in the shooting, or that the handgun he was seen with earlier that evening was operable.

“When viewing this evidence in a light most favorable to the People, we conclude that a valid line of reasoning existed through which the jury could have found that defendant’s conduct met the elements of each crime for which he was convicted,” the Third Department wrote.

“But when viewing the evidence in a neutral light, we cannot say that the weight of the evidence supports the verdict,” the court wrote.

The prosecution’s case relied heavily on video surveillance footage that supposedly showed Bowden handing the gun to someone else. But the video is “dark and pixelated … making it impossible to discern whether defendant and the codefendant exchanged a handgun — let alone anything — without resorting to speculation, which cannot be the basis for defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” the court wrote.

Because of the lack of evidence to support the theory that Bowden aided another individual to possess and use a firearm in commission of the crimes, the court reversed the convictions.

Multiple witnesses testified that Bowden was seen with a handgun at his mother’s house, but the evidence did not show that the shooting was committed with the same gun.

“The People cannot establish operability of the handgun that defendant was seen with at the mother’s residence before the shooting either,” the court wrote.

“In light of the People’s failure to establish any of the counts beyond a reasonable doubt, the judgment of conviction must be reversed and the indictment against defendant dismissed,” the court wrote.

[email protected] / (585) 232-2035