NORWICH – Accused “Road Rage Killer” John Guzy appeared in Chenango County Court on Tuesday for the second day of his bench trial.
Guzy, of Bainbridge, is charged with the murder of 26-year-old Derek D. Prindle, of Afton, after a road rage incident that escalated and ended in Prindle’s death and the serious injury to Prindle’s father, Derek S. Prindle.
Guzy has been previously indicted on 17 crimes related to this incident which happened in 2014, including: murder in the second degree, a class A-1 felony; attempted murder in the second degree, a class B felony; two counts of assault in the first degree, a class B felony; two counts of criminal use of a firearm in the first degree, a class B felony; criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, a class C felony; criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, a class D felony; tampering with physical evidence, a class E felony; driving while intoxicated, a class A misdemeanor; and six counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, a class A misdemeanor.
Guzy is a retired New York City Police Officer and, at the time of the incident, was employed by the Chenango County Correctional Facility. According to police reports, Guzy was also intoxicated with a BAC of .11 when the shooting occurred.
Guzy has waived his right to a jury trial. He is being represented by his attorney, Benjamin Bergman, in front of Chenango County Judge Frank B. Revoir Jr.
Chenango County District Attorney Joseph A. McBride is prosecuting the case on behalf of the people.
With the conclusion of two days of testimony, the main witness and victim, Derek S. Prindle, was heard first on the stand during a morning session on Monday, April 4.
Following Prindle’s testimony, 14 other individuals have given their testimony for the prosecution.
Timothy Tuttle, Forensic Investigator at the New York State Police Troop C, took the stand for the prosecution on Tuesday. He, along with Investigator Justin Miller, performed the initial collection of the crime scene before executing a search warrant of Guzy’s residence a few days later.
McBride presented numerous photos and boxes to Tuttle for identification. Tuttle positively identified a gun that was recovered from Guzy's residence along with other items, many blood stained.
McBride further inquired about an image taken at the police barracks in Sidney of the right, injured hand of Guzy. McBride asked why it may look black.
Tuttle alleged that firing a handgun at close range could have easily elicited gun powder or oil that discolored Guzy’s hand.
Bergman contested this during recross by asking Tuttle if he was a medical doctor, to which he is not.
Bergman also stated that Tuttle wrote in his initial police report that Guzy appeared to have puffy cheeks and a bloody nose – something that Tuttle stated on the record saying “that is the face of Guzy with blood 'on' nose.”
Both the prosecution and defense questioned Tuttle for some time on the exact semantics of the report compared to what he said on the record.
State Police Investigator Jason Miller additionally took the stand Tuesday and, like Tuttle, recounted much of the evening and identified many pictures taken from the crime scene.
Senior Investigator at Troop C State Police Steven A. Anderson also took the stand to attest to where the alleged murder weapon was found.
“About three-tenths of a mile up the road from Peak Fitness heading towards the barracks on the right hand side,” said Andersen. “It was in a group of pines on the bank. There was an impact mark on a deciduous tree in the center; the gun was located below.”
Andersen then also identified many pictures of the gun and the area around where it was found.
Andersen was handed a report which was identified as an official bioscience report of the blood stains found on the gun. Andersen read the report conclusion which stated for the record that the blood on various parts of the hand gun, a Beretta .25 caliber handgun, matched the blood of John Guzy, Derek D. Prindle and Derek S. Prindle (giving the odds of a match at 1 and 300 billion).
Timothy McQuade of the NYS Police took the stand to testify on how a handgun is fired, due to his specialty on the matter, working as recruiter and in weapons training.
McQuade stated that the assault rifle found on Guzy's property in the unattached barn is illegal in New York State. He also explained that the weapon believed to be the murder weapon is very similar to his assigned police issued weapon that he carries.
McBride questioned McQuade about protocol in the event that an off-duty officer or civilian shoots an individual.
“The rights for civilians and officers are the same. First you secure the person who is shot,” stated McQuade.
“Is it consistent with protocol to leave the scene or throw the weapon?” said McBride.
“No, it is not consistent with protocol to do that,” said McQuade.
New York State Police Senior Investigator out of Endwell, Michael Franz took the stand to possibly identify each of the weapons recovered at the case.
Franz listed the guns as: .35 caliber rugger, .38 caliber rugger, .25 caliber Beretta, 9 mm intra tech tech 9, 44 Smith and Wesson, .45 caliber Colt, and a 9 mm glock. He also said he “found no records (John Guzy in the NYS database) of pistol licenses.”
It’s believed that the last of the prosecution’s witnesses will be heard in court on Wednesday.
At this time, it is unclear if the defense for Guzy has any witnesses lined up; however, it is believed that Guzy will take the stand to testify on his behalf.
Day three of the murder trial of John Guzy begins Wednesday morning.