Newburgh Man Sentenced to Fifteen Years for Gun and Narcotics Crimes

On December 16, 2025, Leshawn Hamilton, age 27, of Newburgh was sentenced to a total of fifteen years in state prison after pleading guilty to separate weapons and narcotics related charges in Orange County Court. The sentence follows guilty pleas entered in October for a string of incidents that drew investigations by City of Newburgh police and Town of New Windsor officers.

Hamilton admitted on October 14, 2025 to Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree for an incident on March 6, 2025 when, at about 8:30 p.m., he followed a victim out of a store in the City of Newburgh, produced a firearm and shot the victim in the knee. The wound was not life threatening. Police developed Hamilton as a suspect and he later admitted to shooting at the victim and to illegally possessing a loaded firearm. Court records note Hamilton has three prior felony convictions, including two prior gun felonies.

On October 22, 2025 Hamilton pleaded guilty to Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree, Attempted Tampering with Physical Evidence and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the First Degree for separate incidents in March and July of 2024. He acknowledged presenting a forged U.S. Treasury check to withdraw four thousand eight hundred dollars from a Hudson Valley Credit Union branch in the Town of New Windsor on March 5, 2024. He also admitted that on July 2, 2024, while being chased by a Town of New Windsor detective, he possessed baggies containing crack cocaine and attempted to swallow the baggies to prevent their recovery.

Judge Craig Stephen Brown imposed a ten year prison term to be followed by five years of post release supervision for the weapon conviction, and a five year term plus three years of post release supervision for the controlled substance conviction. The court also ordered 364 days in the Orange County Jail for attempted tampering and sentenced Hamilton to three to six years for the forged instrument conviction. The ten year weapon sentence was ordered to run consecutively to the other terms, resulting in a combined state prison sentence of fifteen years.

District Attorney David M. Hoovler thanked the City of Newburgh Police Department and the Town of New Windsor Police Department for their investigations and prosecution, and stressed prosecutorial priorities. "Our community will be safer during the fifteen years that this defendant is incarcerated," said District Attorney David M. Hoovler. "We have prioritized the prosecution of cases involving the possession and use of illegal firearms, particularly when they are possessed by those intending on committing other crimes. I thank all of our brave police officers for repeatedly risking their lives to bring armed offenders to justice and thereby making our communities safer."

The weapons case was prosecuted by Executive Assistant District Attorney Leah Canton and the forgery and narcotics charges were prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Michael Roche. A criminal charge is an allegation and defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial. In this instance Hamilton entered guilty pleas that formed the basis for sentencing. The outcome underscores local law enforcement cooperation and the district attorney's emphasis on removing armed offenders from Orange County neighborhoods.