On Friday, January 13, 2023, a Schenectady County Jury convicted William Lindley [DOB 4/5/1989], a resident of the City of Schenectady of three violent felonies. Mr. Lindley was convicted of two counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, class B violent felonies, in violation of New York State Penal Law Section 130.50[4], and one count of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, a class D violent felony, in violation of New York State Penal Law Section 130.65[4]. The trial began on Monday, January 9, 2023, in Schenectady County Court. The jury returned its verdict after deliberating for approximately one and a half hours on Friday afternoon.
The jury convicted Mr. Lindley of fondling and subjecting an 11-year-old female child, well known to him, to anal and oral sexual contact. The sexual assault occurred in the City of Schenectady on a single day in June of 2020. Mr. Lindley committed these acts while the child’s mother was at work. The investigation began in August of 2021, when the child found the courage to disclose the prior year’s assault to her mother who brought her to the Schenectady Police Department’s Youth Aid Bureau to report the assault. The case was investigated by Schenectady Youth Aid Detective Kristen Florell. After a direct presentation of the case to a Schenectady County Grand Jury in December of 2021, a warrant for Mr. Lindley’s arrest was issued. The Schenectady County Street Crimes Task Force located Mr. Lindley on February 1, 2022, and took him into custody, where he remained pending trial.
At trial, the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office, in addition to the child and the child’s mother, called Dr. Eileen Treacy, an Applied Development Psychologist and an expert in the dynamics of childhood sexual abuse and those effects on children, to educate and assist the jury in understanding how children react to sexual abuse.
Mr. Lindley faces a maximum of fifty-seven [57] years in prison and up to twenty-five [25] years of post-release supervision, commonly referred to as parole. Additionally, upon his release from prison, Mr. Lindley will be required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life. The People will seek a full order of protection for the child and her mother for the maximum period allowed by law at sentencing. Mr. Lindley will be sentenced in Schenectady County Court on March 13, 2023. Hon. Felix J. Catena, the Montgomery County Court Judge and the Administrative Judge for the 4th Judicial District presided as a visiting judge. The case was prosecuted by Special Victims Bureau Chief John J. Carson for the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office. William Lindley was represented by assigned counsel Carl D. Birman, of the Birman Law Office.