NEW CITY – Rockland County resident William Lewis, who hit a neighbor with a guitar, stabbed him with a broken light bulb and tried to strangle him with a cord during a robbery attempt, has been found guilty of attempted murder.
A Rockland County jury on Tuesday found Lewis guilty of second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault after a trial in Rockland County Court, where Lewis was prosecuted by Executive Assistant District Attorney Stephen Moore and Assistant District Attorney Robert Trudell.
Rockland robber William Lewis was found guilty of numerous charges, including beating his victim with a guitar, stabbing him with broken light bulb and strangling him with an electrical cord.
“The crimes of which (Lewis) has been convicted were violent and opportunistic – they resulted in the victim being nearly killed,” said Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe. “I hope the victim can find some degree of solace in the guilty verdict and knowing (Lewis) will be sent to prison for many years as punishment for his actions.
The attack left the victim in a coma for two weeks and with permanent vision loss. The victim also had a skull fracture, a fracture of the right eye orbit, two fractured ribs, numerous lacerations, and continues to have loss of vision from the attack.
Lewis, 30, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in state prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 12 for the December 2012 attack on a neighbor at the New Main Street Hotel in the Village of Haverstraw. The victim was living across the hall from Lewis.
Lewis turned down a plea offer and went to trial, leading to his conviction.
Prosecutors said robbery was the motive in the attack, in which the victim was struck with a guitar, stabbed with a broken light bulb and then strangled with a cord. The victim was left in a coma for two weeks and needed a month in Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla for recovery from the attack.
