Albany Man Convicted For Assaulting Random Stranger

Albany County District Attorney Lee C. Kindlon announced today that a homeless 44-year-old Albany man who attacked a random person on the street with a nail-spiked wooden board has been convicted of assault.

John Hughes was found guilty Wednesday of Assault in the Second Degree: Intent to Cause Physical Injury with a Weapon after a two-day jury trial in front of the Honorable William Little.

The jury deliberated for 17 minutes before returning the verdict.

On Sept. 20, 2024, Hughes was at the intersection of Grand Street and Madison Avenue just before 9 p.m. when he pulled a wooden board from a dumpster and began swinging it at a 32-year-old pedestrian, striking him in the ribs and then the head and sending him to the hospital with a gash that required four staples.

The prosecution team of Assistant District Attorney Katherine Miller, of the Vehicular Crimes Unit, and ADA Joseph Brucato, Bureau Chief of the Major Crimes Unit, called on six witnesses, including the victim and Albany Police officers, and showed the jury video surveillance footage that captured the incident unfold.

Hughes took the stand and said he believed the victim was working for the police. He said he demanded the victim leave the neighborhood before he began swinging. Defense attorney Paul Edwards tried to make a case that the defendant only intended for the victim to leave and didn't intend to cause injury.

Hughes could face up to seven years in state prison when he is sentenced on March 27.