Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that a jury has found 27-year-old Giorgio Williams of Buffalo guilty, as charged, of one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a Class “C” felony, and one count of Unlawful Possession of Marijuana, a violation.

On July 31, 2019, at approximately 2:40 a.m., Buffalo Police officers observed the defendant sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle in parking lot on East Delavan Avenue and Grider Street. A week prior, the defendant had been stopped by one of the officers for driving with a suspended license. When the officers approached, they saw an open bottle of alcohol inside the vehicle. The defendant then drove away. The officers pursued the defendant and observed him drive through three red lights before pulling over to the side of road on East Delavan Avenue near William L. Gaiter Parkway. The officers searched the defendant’s vehicle and found a loaded, illegal handgun and a vile containing marijuana.

Williams faces a maximum of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced by State Supreme Court Justice Christopher J. Burns on December 21, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. He was held without bail. 

DA Flynn commends Lt. Pietrzak, Officer Jackson and Officer Sanders of the Buffalo Police Department for their work in the investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Noha A. Elnakib of the DA’s Community Prosecution Unit and Ryan M. Flaherty of the DA’s Felony Trials Bureau.

This was the first criminal jury trial conducted in Erie County since the courts were placed on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday, the New York State Courts announced that no new prospective jurors will be summoned for grand jury or criminal trials until further notice due to the adverse trends in coronavirus transmission rates.