Drew Botsford’s lawyer said the defense plans to challenge the verdict in his father’s death.
MONTICELLO, N.Y. — Drew Botsford has been sentenced to 25 years to life for murdering his father, but his lawyer said the defense plans to appeal the Sullivan County jury verdict.
The planned appeal keeps a legal path open after a case that has already passed through investigation, indictment, trial, conviction and sentencing. Botsford, 49, of Neversink, was convicted in March of second-degree murder in the death of Lloyd Botsford, 71. Sullivan County Court Judge James R. Farrell sentenced him Friday to 25 years to life in state prison. Defense attorney Tim Havas said the verdict would be appealed.
The case reached trial more than two years after the shooting. Prosecutors said the killing happened at about 6 p.m. on Oct. 8, 2023, at 39 Bradley Road, Liberty, in the Town of Neversink. Drew Botsford and his father got into a verbal argument inside the residence, according to the district attorney’s office. The state said Botsford then took a .22-caliber rifle from his father’s bedroom closet, loaded one round he found in a top drawer, walked down the hallway and fired once from near a bathroom door. Lloyd Botsford was seated on a living-room love seat watching football.
Jurors heard evidence that the shot struck Lloyd Botsford in the head and that family members later found him on the couch. Emergency service personnel were called to the home and tried to save him, but he died. The prosecution’s theory was that the shooting was intentional and followed immediately after the argument. The charge, murder in the second degree, is a Class A-I felony under New York law. A Sullivan County jury returned the guilty verdict on March 16 after five days of testimony and evidence.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael J. Puma tried the case for the prosecution. Havas, executive director of the Sullivan County Legal Aid Society, represented Botsford. Farrell presided over the trial and later imposed the prison term. District Attorney Brian P. Conaty said after sentencing that the punishment fit the gravity of a son killing his father. “Today’s sentence ensures that this defendant will spend the remainder of his life paying the price for this senseless and irreversible act,” Conaty said.
The expected appeal would come after prosecutors built the case around several categories of proof. They said Botsford confessed during an interview at a New York State Police barracks after his arrest. They also said a search of the home produced a spent .22-caliber shell casing outside a bedroom door, a location that matched where Botsford said he had stood when he pulled the trigger. The rifle was found leaning against Lloyd Botsford’s bedroom dresser. Prosecutors said the crime scene supported the statement given to investigators.
Forensic testing also played a role in the verdict. The New York State Police Crime Laboratory found Drew Botsford’s DNA on the forearm, stock, bolt and trigger areas of the rifle. Prosecutors said those areas were consistent with the way a shooter would hold and operate the weapon. The lab excluded Lloyd Botsford’s DNA from those parts of the rifle. The public reports do not include a detailed defense explanation of how it challenged that testing at trial, and Havas did not give a fuller comment when he said an appeal was planned.
The events after the shooting formed another part of the trial narrative. Prosecutors said Botsford took about $1,668 in cash and tried to flee. He loaded his mother’s groceries into his aunt’s vehicle, which was parked along the side of the residence and away from the police presence. He asked his uncle for the vehicle keys, but the uncle refused. Botsford then hid in the back hatch area of the vehicle. Authorities said he accidentally locked himself inside while emergency workers and officers were still dealing with the scene.
The next morning, at about 7:30 a.m., Botsford used a tire jack to smash through the rear hatch window and leave the vehicle, prosecutors said. He went into his aunt’s home, and New York State Police were called. Troopers arrived and placed him in custody. That arrest led to the barracks interview and the later search-and-forensics work that prosecutors used at trial. Conaty later thanked state police for preserving evidence, interviewing witnesses, tracking Botsford after the homicide and obtaining the confession.
Conaty’s office also framed the case as a personal loss for a family and community. After the verdict, he described Lloyd Botsford as a loving husband, father and friend to many people in Sullivan County. He said the victim had supported the defendant in efforts tied to addiction. Prosecutors said Drew Botsford was unemployed at the time of the shooting. The district attorney said the killing reflected choices by the defendant and that Lloyd Botsford did not deserve such an end to his life.
The appeal process will not start the facts from scratch before a new jury unless an appellate court orders further action. It generally reviews claimed errors from the trial record, such as legal rulings, evidence issues, jury instructions or other matters raised by the defense. No appellate filing or argument date has been publicly announced in the available reports. The sentence remains active while the case moves forward unless a court grants relief.
For now, the trial court judgment is complete: Botsford is convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. The next milestone is the defense’s appellate filing, which will show how Havas plans to challenge the verdict.
Author note: Last updated June 16, 2026.