Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Flaherty, Jr. announces that 22-year-old Daryl Bland of Buffalo has been arraigned by Erie County Court Judge Kenneth F. Case on an indictment charging him with Murder in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree and Unlawful Possession of Marijuana. 

Bland pleaded not guilty and was remanded to jail without bail. 

If convicted of the charges, Bland faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison. 

The indictment alleges that on October 26, 2016 at about 12:50 a.m., the defendant, who had been selling heroin out of a residence in the Village of Gowanda, fatally shot the victim, 31-year-old Dustin Sharp of Gowanda. 

Acting DA Flaherty commends NPSP Investigators Ronald Wilson, Ryan Shanahan, Richard Noecker, Matthew Stenger, Trooper Anthony Comstock, Jayson Colvin, and Seneca Nations Marshals Keith White and Walter Wilcox for their thorough investigative work. 

Assistant District Attorney Gary W. Hackbush of DA Flaherty’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case. 

As are all persons accused of a crime, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.