A Vermont deputy sheriff who was involved in a gunfight in upstate New York that left three injured last year was indicted on charges including attempted murder and a felony for possessing a gun in a sensitive location.
Vito Caselnova pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Saratoga County Court on Tuesday.
"We're still of the opinion that he's a victim of this case. He had the authority under New York State law to use deadly physical force when faced with deadly physical force," Greg Teresi, Caselnova's lawyer, told The Associated Press.
Rutland County, Vermont, deputy, who lives in Glen Falls, New York, was off-duty at the time of the Nov. 20 gunfight in Saratoga Springs. According to officials and local reports, Caselnova allegedly shot Alexander Colon, of Utica, after a barroom argument spilled onto the street. Saratoga Springs police opened fire when Caselnova did not drop his weapon.
The deputy was hit several times but survived, as did Colon, local police said.
Colon, 28, was charged with attempted assault. Two other men from Utica — Christopher Castillo, 28, and Darius Wright, 29 — who were involved were also indicted with the same charges. Video from a street camera appeared to show a group of people fighting on the sidewalk, then scattering as shots were fired.
Caselnova, 25, faces an eight-count indictment that in addition to attempted murder includes assault, reckless endangerment, menacing and harassment.
FORMER VERMONT POLICE OFFICER ACQUITTED OF ASSAULT CHARGE FROM 2019 STUN GUN INCIDENT
The sensitive location charge is a felony under New York’s stringent and rewritten gun laws, which continue to be challenged in federal courts. Revised rules that make it illegal to carry a firearm inside a place that serves alcohol, which are the subject of a court challenge, are still in effect.
"We're in the process of doing research on how the decisions that were made with those federal court challenges impact that count of the indictment," Teresi said.
Caselnova was released on $50,000 bail, his lawyer said.
Phone messages left for the Rutland County Sheriff’s Office were not immediately returned.
