Newburgh man sentenced for killing Walden woman after family dispute
A Newburgh man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, following his conviction earlier this year for a 2019 murder.
A jury previously found Cornelius Stubbs guilty of killing Chelsea Debidin, a Walden resident, in her boyfriend's New Windsor apartment.
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said Stubbs, 51, also received an additional sentence of 25 years to life in prison for other charges for which he was convicted, to run consecutively to the life in prison sentence.
His co-defendant, Carlos Rivera, 49, also of Newburgh, who pleaded guilty to the charges against him, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.
Stubbs was convicted on May 24 of 31 charges, including first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count each of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, first-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, all felonies.
Stubbs was accused of the Sept. 21, 2019 shooting death of Debidin, a 21-year-old college student, inside a New Windsor residence. Hoovler said the woman was visiting her boyfriend, who is the brother of the mother of one of Stubbs' children.
Prosecutors previously said Stubbs had threatened Debidin's boyfriend's family because they had tried to intervene in the relationship between Stubbs and his children's mother.
Stubbs broke into Debidin's boyfriend's apartment, where he fatally shot the woman and also shot her boyfriend, seriously wounding him, prosecutors said.
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Stubbs also was convicted of 10 counts of first-degree criminal contempt, and one count of first-degree coercion, both felonies; eight counts of second-degree criminal contempt, and three counts of second-degree aggravated harassment, both misdemeanors; and two counts of second-degree harassment, a violation, for having repeatedly threatened and harassed the mother of his child and her brother.
The indictment against Stubbs accused him of a pattern of harassment against the woman and her family.
Rivera pleaded guilty during the jury selection phase of the trial on May 2 to all 10 charges against him, including one count of first-degree murder, two counts each of second-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, and one count each of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, first- and second-degree assault, and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, for his role in breaking into the apartment and shooting the woman and her boyfriend.
Stubbs' attorney, Matthew Witherow, and Rivera's attorney, Orrin Fullerton, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, the Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @MikeRandall845.
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Newburgh's Cornelius Stubbs sentenced for killing Chelsea Debidin
