Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 34-year-old William J. Giambelluca of Hamburg was sentenced yesterday afternoon before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case to 23 years to life in prison.
On November 22, 2021, at approximately 11:45 p.m., the victim was leaving a tavern on Lake Shore Road in the Village of Blasdell when he was attacked in the parking lot by the defendant. The defendant intentionally hit the victim on the head with a piece of wood during the commission of a robbery. The defendant fled after stealing $60 cash from the victim, which he then used to purchase heroin. The victim drove himself home after the assault.
The following morning, a family member found the victim, who suffered a fractured skull, unconscious inside of his home. The victim, 67-year-old John E. Rados, Sr., was taken by ambulance to ECMC where he later died on November 24, 2021. The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the victim died from blunt force trauma to the head.
A jury found Giambelluca guilty of one count of Murder in the Second Degree (Class “A-I” felony) and one count of Robbery in the First Degree (Class “B” violent felony). Jurors rendered their decision after approximately three hours of deliberation following a five-day trial in August 2023, convicting the defendant of all counts in the indictment against him.
DA Flynn commends the Town of Hamburg Police Department for their work in this investigation.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Eugene T. Partridge, III of the Homicide Unit and Assistant District Attorney Christopher S. Safulko of the Major Crimes Unit.