Gladding Found Guilty
Gladding was convicted mainly on the basis of a confession made to Connecticut State Police that he kidnapped Argersinger, on March 1, 2005 to deliver him to drug suppliers at an Indian reservation in upstate New York.
Genesee County prosecutor Larry Friedman said Gladding’s confession included facts which would only be known by Argersinger’s killer.
Defense attorney William Easton said there was an absence of physical evidence or eyewitness accounts and suggested Argersinger was killed by an unknown culprit and Gladding took the blame fearing for the safety of his family.
“There is doubt upon doubt that Noah pulled the trigger,” Easton said.
In 2005, Argersinger had a $400,000 debt with drug lord bosses but was unwilling to meet with them.
Bosses’ death threats hanging over Argersinger and Gladding which Gladding said prompted him to bash Argersinger in the head with a rock, tied him up in his car trunk, and drove him to Syracuse.
There Gladding wanted to force Argersinger to meet with a drug supplier but according to Gladding’s statement the supplier did not want to kidnap Argersinger.
In the trunk of his car, Argersinger pleaded to Gladding they could “talk it out” but Gladding claims after he opened the trunk, Argersinger jumped into the driver’s seat to leave and Gladding shot him in the back which killed him.
Gladding said he took Argersinger’s body down a snow bank and placed him face-up into Black Creek in Stafford, N.Y. and shot him seven more times.
Heading back to Connecticut, Gladding threw Argersinger’s clothes in a rest stop trash bin, threw the 9mm handgun in the Mohawk River and set the car on fire.
The bloodied clothing, the gun, and the body were all found within weeks.
Gladding will be facing federal murder chargers in a separate trial next year and federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Argersinger.
Argersinger’s accomplices, Eric Connolly, 23, who was charged with helping to abduct the victim, and Josiah Howenstine, 26, will not be considered for a death penalty sentence.
Connolly has been charged for kidnapping, conspiring to distribute marijuana and weapons possession while Howenstine faces charges in supplying a semiautomatic handgun used in the killing.
