Newburgh man convicted of murder by impaling roommate in head with a metal broomstick

GOSHEN - A city of Newburgh man was convicted of murder Monday after a jury found him guilty of impaling his elderly roommate in the head with a metal broomstick.

Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said the jury found James Rich, 36, of Newburgh guilty of second-degree murder, a felony, and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor.

According to prosecutors, Rich was first arrested on March 14, 2023, and charged with possessing cocaine.

After being released from that arrest, Rich returned to his residence and attacked a 76-year-old man who lived with him.

Prosecutors said that during the course of that attack, Rich allegedly impaled the 76-year-old victim in the head with a metal broomstick, which caused the man's death.

Over the next 24 hours, Rich was seen on surveillance video that was later recovered discarding bags of bloody clothing bearing the victim's DNA that were believed to have been worn by Rich during the killing.

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Rich was found by police in the early morning hours of March 17, 2023, hiding in a closet at a different apartment. The victim's cell phone was recovered from the area where Rich was hiding, prosecutors said.

"The sheer brutality of this crime is staggering," Hoovler said in a statement released by his office. "I offer my condolences to the victim's family and friends, and I hope that this verdict will give them a sense of closure."

Rich's attorney, Matthew Witherow, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Murder conviction in Orange County broomstick impalement case