NORWICH – “We have reached a verdict,” the jury foreman announced shortly after 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, when he and his fellow jurors returned to the courtroom after roughly four hours of deliberation in the Michael A. Victor Jr. case.
That verdict was guilty on all 10 of the drug, weapons and conspiracy counts on his 2009 felony indictment.
“It is unanimous, your honor,” the foreman confirmed.
Victor remained stoic as each count of the indictment was read, casting his eyes first downward at the table before him, then raising them toward the ceiling. As the jury signified their decision to the final county, the defendant uttered an oath and placed his hands behind his back so he could be handcuffed by the Chenango County corrections officer standing at the ready.
District Attorney Joseph McBride, who prosecuted the case, said he was happy with the verdict.
“Hopefully it will send a message to out-of-town drug dealers that if you come to our town, you’ll face serious consequences,” McBride said.
Norwich Police Chief Joseph Angelino, whose agency was the lead investigator in the case, was also pleased with the outcome.
“I hope this verdict sends a strong warning message to others considering this business; the Norwich Police Department, and our partner law enforcement agencies, have the talent and wherewithal to conduct in depth investigations with similar results,” Angelino said. “(They) should consider moving someplace else.”
Victor’s defense attorneys, F. Paul Battisti and his colleague Michael A. Garzo, Jr. of the Binghamton-based firm Battisti, Gartenman & Thayne, P.C., paused briefly to speak with jurors before leaving the Chenango County Courthouse.
“Mr. Victor’s looking forward to the appeals process,” Battisti said, from the top step of the historic structure.
Judge W. Howard Sullivan and both the defense and prosecution thanked the jury for their time and consideration. During their deliberation, the panel returned to the courtroom more than once to hear portions of the testimony read back to them. They also asked for tapes of phone conversations made by Victor during his initial incarceration at the Chenango County Correctional Facility to be replayed.
The tapes – on which Victor can be heard frantically trying to have someone move his silver Mercedes Benz from a storage unit and then his reaction to the news that the police had seized the contents of the unit – were a key piece of evidence in the prosecution’s case,
The significance of their role was not lost on the jurors themselves.
“This is the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life,” the foreman said, of standing in judgment of another human being.
The jury’s verdict convicts Victor of: one count of second degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a class A-II felony; two counts of third degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a class B felony; one count of second degree conspiracy, a class B felony; three counts of second degree criminal possession of a weapon, a class C felony; one count of third degree criminal possession of a weapon (assault weapon), a class D felony; and two counts of third degree criminal possession of a weapon (with serial numbers defaced), a class D felony.
A date for Victor’s sentencing has not yet been set, but those close to the case say he could face as many as 38 years in state prison for his crimes if sentenced to the maximum time allowed by law.