LOCAL

Almond Upton, who killed Trooper Christopher Skinner in 2014, dies in prison

Maggie Gilroy
pressconnects.com

Almond Upton, a Florida man who was found guilty of the 2014 murder of New York State Trooper Christopher G. Skinner, has died.

Upton died Dec. 9 at the age of 64, according to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision's website, where he is listed as "deceased."

According to a statement released by the NYS DOCCS, Upton was pronounced dead at 9:30 p.m. Sunday at the Albany Medical Center in Albany. He had been in DOCCS custody since Nov. 11, 2016.

The official cause of death will be determined the Albany County Medical Examiner’s Office, the NYS DOCCS said. The Albany County Medical Examiner's Office declined to release the cause of death Wednesday afternoon.

Upton was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2016 and sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole. On May 29, 2014, Upton drove his Toyota pickup truck at 93 miles per hour along Interstate 81 before hitting and instantly killing Skinner, 42, of Kirkwood. At the time, Skinner was carrying out a routine traffic stop in the Town of Chenango.

New York State Trooper led Almond Upton, 60, of Melrose, Fla., after his arraignment at Chenango Town Justice Court back to the car where he was screaming that he was “Two miles away from the Connecticut border before he hit a time warp that lead him to Binghamton.”
New York state troopers lead Almond Upton, 60, of Melrose, Florida, into Chenango Town Justice Court on May 29 for his arraignment on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Trooper Christopher G. Skinner, 42, of Binghamton.

According to testimony in the three-week trial, Upton hit two vehicles moments before fatally striking Skinner.

Read our coverage of the trial here:

GUILTY: Conviction in trooper's roadside murder

LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE for trooper's killer

Defense attorneys did not dispute their client was at the wheel, but maintained that Upton, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was going through a "manic episode" at the time and could not have understood the consequences of his actions.

An off-duty photo of Trooper Christopher Skinner, who was killed May 29, 2014, during a traffic stop.

After deliberating about eight hours over three days, the jury rejected that explanation.

Skinner had served 13 years with the New York State Police at the time of his death.

Since Skinner's death, his memory has been kept alive through an annual blood drive. An I-81 bridge one mile north of the deadly crash was also named in his honor.

Sharyn Skinner, mother of fallen state Trooper Christopher Skinner, said the annual blood drive is a good way to memorialize her son.

During the fourth and most recent blood drive in December 2017, Skinner's mother, Sharyn Skinner, donated blood in her son's honor. 

"He helped anybody along the way who needed help, whether it was along the road or wherever it was," she said before donating blood.

Sharyn Skinner, mother of Christopher Skinner, brings a scrapbook to the memorial blood drive for donors to sign each year.

Sharyn Skinner also volunteers at the Samaritan's Purse Shoebox Project, also organized in memory of Christopher. At both events, she brings a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings and memories of her son.

More:Remembering Trooper Christopher Skinner: Blood drive marks fourth year

"It helps me to overshadow the negativity of it all by doing something positive," she said at the blood drive.

Follow Maggie Gilroy on Twitter @MaggieGilroy. Support our journalism and become a digital subscriber today. Click here for our special offers.

More:73-year-old Lockwood man dies, friend charged, in hunting incident in Barton

More:Binghamton man arraigned on felony charges following October drug raid

More:'I need some time': Susquehanna Street shooting suspect has one week to decide on plea