Jury starts deliberations in Cayuga County attempted murder trial

The jury will resume deliberations Monday in the trial of Luke Gaffney, 42, of Aurelius, who is facing charges of second-degree attempted murder and aggravated assault upon a police officer, both class B felonies. He is accused of attempting to use a knife to kill Cayuga County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Adam Bacon, who was a deputy at the time of the incident in Aurelius on Oct. 23, 2020.

Following the final defense witness' testimony and closing arguments and instructions from Judge Daniel Doyle, jurors began deliberating around 2:30 p.m. Friday. The jury twice asked to hear the elements of the criminal charges read back to them, but by around 5:30 p.m., Doyle dismissed them for the weekend with instructions to return Monday morning. He also told them not to discuss the case with anyone and to avoid all media coverage of the trial.

Michael Kasmarek, Gaffney's primary defense attorney, kicked off closing arguments Friday afternoon. He told the jury it was important to consider Gaffney's intent when he stabbed Bacon outside Gaffney's house that day.

Authorities previously said Bacon, another sheriff's office deputy and a New York State Police trooper came to Gaffney's house at the direction of Cayuga County Court Judge Thomas Leone to seize firearms belonging to Gaffney, who had been charged in an unrelated domestic incident that week. The officers found Gaffney at the property and informed him of the letter, but the sheriff's office said Gaffney did not comply, a brief confrontation ensued, Gaffney stabbed Bacon and then he went inside his home. Gaffney initially refused to leave his home but later surrendered without incident following several hours of crisis negotiation. Bacon was transported to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse for treatment of his injuries. 

Kasmarek contended Friday that Gaffney had no intention of killing or seriously injuring Bacon during the incident, adding that the defense was not trying to argue that Bacon, who testified Wednesday, is a bad person. 

"He seems like a very nice man and a good cop," Kasmarek said. "But on Oct. 23, 2020, he made a mistake." 

The defense has argued throughout the week that the paperwork from Leone that Bacon came to give to Gaffney was not a search or arrest warrant, so it did not allow the officers to come into Gaffney's home. Gaffney had previously been told by a lower court judge that he would be able to turn in his guns to a licensed person legally allowed to handle firearms by Monday, Oct. 26, 2020.

Kasmarek's closing argument also emphasized the importance of a video clip from Gaffney's security camera in which a voice identified to be Bacon's could be hearing "If he leaves, I'm going in" before Gaffney came to the door to talk to the officers. Kasmarek argued that statement displayed that Bacon was intending to go into the defendant's home to seize the weapons no matter what. Bacon and the officers at the confrontation, all who testified this week, said Leone's letter stated that Gaffney's guns needed to be seized.

At one point in his closing summation, Kasmarek argued that the prosecution had falsely painted Gaffney as sounding agitated while speaking with the officers prior to the stabbing. Kasmarek said he felt Gaffney did not sound agitated in the video and that he "stood firm" with the officers.

"I don't hear agitation, I hear a man who knows his rights," Kasmarek said.

Noting that Gaffney stabbed Bacon after Bacon grabbed Gaffney when he was trying to go back inside his home, Kasmarek argued that Gaffney did not try to serious physically injure Bacon but just wanted to "get (Bacon) off of him."

The prosecution has contended that Bacon was acting within his duties as an officer to try to seize Gaffney's weapons as a part of a court order. Bacon previously testified that after telling Gaffney the officers had been sent by the judge to seize his guns immediately, Gaffney had said, "You're going to have to kill me" and told them to leave his property. Noting that statement and the fact that Gaffney had weapons in his home, Bacon said he felt he could not let Gaffney go back into the residence, saying he was concerned for the safety of everyone involved at the time.

Kasmarek's closing argument also pointed to testimony from a forensic pathologist retained by the defense who took the stand earlier Friday. After looking at Bacon's medical records, pictures of the injuries and more, the pathologist said he felt, based on the information he had and his medical knowledge and experience, that none of the wounds on Bacon's leg hit blood vessels or caused significant risk of death, protracted impairment of health or other issues. He also said he felt that one wound close to Bacon's femoral artery, which could cause a person to bleed to death if punctured, was not deep enough to reach that artery.

Cayuga County District Attorney Brittany Grome Antonacci said in her closing statement that evidence showed Gaffney stabbed Bacon three times, and she  argued there was no evidence to support the defense's prior arguments that Gaffney's actions were justified.

She said Bacon had been following standard procedure and noted that when Gaffney testified Thursday, he admitted he did not read the letter from Leone on the day of the incident. Grome Antonacci said Gaffney did not "take two seconds out of his day" to read paperwork despite saying his rights were violated.

"You don't get to go around stabbing people and say your rights are being violated," she said. 

Grome Antonacci argued that the officers were calm when speaking with Gaffney and the defendant had been agitated, mentioning that all three of the officers there had testified that Gaffney told them, "You're going to have kill me." She also brought up previous testimony from Dr. Amie Lucia, the trauma surgeon who treated Gaffney, as she had said injuries like those Bacon received could cause some people pain and disability, especially in physically-demanding lifestyles like that of a police officer. Grome Antonacci also said it had been previously been noted in the trial that Bacon had suffered sensory nerve damage and mentioned that one of the wounds was close to Bacon's femoral artery, which she argued showed intent to kill. As a Marine, Gaffney would have been trained to try to stab that artery when in close combat with a person wearing body armor.

The district attorney also contended that the quick nature in the confrontation did not make Gaffney's actions any less intentional, and noted that other law enforcement members who testified said Gaffney had demands during his standoff with police, including receiving a pardon from then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

"His actions after the fact are extremely telling of what his intent was when stabbing Deputy Bacon," Grome Antonacci said.

Later that adding that "you don't have the right to stab an officer because you don't agree with them," Grome Antonacci argued that Gaffney's interpretation of the law did not matter and that "ignorance of the law is not a defense."

The sheriff's office previously said officers arrived to take Gaffney's firearms due to a court order connected to his arrest earlier that week in which he was charged with third-degree assault, criminal obstruction of breathing and fourth-degree criminal mischief for an incident involving a person in a relationship with Gaffney’s ex-girlfriend. That case against Gaffney was resolved in fall 2021 through an adjournment in contemplation of a dismissal that included a protection order for the victim.

Gaffney has been free on bail on the charges related to the stabbing incident since September 2021.