LOCKPORT — After sitting through more than two hours of closing arguments on Tuesday, a Niagara County Court jury took only about an hour of deliberation before finding Al Rocky Villane guilty of murder.
The jury of six women and six men also found Villane, 32, of the Falls, guilty of one count of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the stabbing death of Hollis Stewart.
Villane faces a sentence of 25 years to life for his conviction. He remains held without bail pending his sentencing later this year.
Stewart, 47, of the Falls, died from complications from a stab wound sustained during a confrontation with Villane at an apartment building in the 700 block of 20th Street on Sept. 19, 2022. He was hospitalized at the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo for about six weeks before succumbing to his wounds in November 2022.
Villane’s defense attorney, Robert Ross Fogg, had argued to the jury during a three-day trial that his client “never intended” to kill Stewart.
“Al Rocky Villane is innocent,” Fogg told the jurors in his summation. “He’s not guilty. Where are the elements of intention here? Al didn’t intend to kill anyone. Al didn’t intend to hurt anyone.”
Fogg argued that Villane had armed himself with a large hunting knife in an effort to “scare away” Stewart, who was attempting to reconcile with his estranged girlfriend. The defense attorney called Villane’s actions “reckless, but not intentional.”
Prosecutors characterized Stewart’s death as “a senseless act of violence because (Villane) was not going to give up (a co-worker and romantic interest) to Hollis Stewart or anyone else.”
Assistant Niagara County District Attorney Maria Stoelting told jurors that when Villane’s co-worker asked him to “get his stuff and leave her apartment, he formed the intent to use (a hunting knife) on Hollis Stewart.”
Witnesses testified that Villane displayed the knife before stabbing Stewart, saying, “Mother Nature gave me a gift.” A tenant in an apartment across the hallway from where Stewart was stabbed said she heard Villane say, “I’ll (expletive) stab you.”
“If Al had just done what he was told to do, ‘Take your stuff and go,’ we’re not here,” Stoelting told the jurors. “The defendant could have walked away at any time, but he didn’t stop until he did what he set out to do.”
Falls Police patrol officers, who responded to the stabbing call at around 4:50 p.m. that day at the apartment building in the 700 block of 20th Street, said they found Stewart suffering from a 4 and 1/2 inch stab wound to his chest. He was rushed to Erie County Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery.
Crime Scene Unit (CSU) detectives recovered the murder weapon when they took Villane into custody at the crime scene.