Most Depraved Criminal in Livingston County Sentenced to Possible Life in Prison

LIVINGSTON COUNTY – At an emotional court hearing on Monday, nearly 30 members of the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office watched as the most notorious criminal in Livingston County history was put away for the maximum possible prison time under the New York State legal system as a Persistent Felony Offender after 38 years of reckless violence and deceit.

Jeffrey Lowery, 58, was sentenced to 15-25 years to life in prison for a SORA violation, an E felony, which he committed in 2013. District Attorney Greg McCaffrey pursued Persistent Felon status in this case, and Judge Dennis Cohen went along with that considering Lowery’s violent criminal history, which includes rape, perjury, and a violent escape from the Livingston County Jail during which he and three other inmates viciously beat a corrections officer and then crashed a stolen car into a police barricade in Dansville at 100 mph. The assaulted officer was in court to hear Monday’s decision and sentencing.

“Lowery’s reign of terror spanned four District Attorney’s Offices,” said DA Greg McCaffrey at sentencing. “DA Scarrino prosecuted him on the Rape 1. Ted Wiggins had him on the Perjury, Assault and Possession of Stolen Property. Tom Moran never even got his teeth into this guy because he was in prison the whole time, and now I end up with him. I just want to do what I can to make sure he never, ever sets foot out of prison again.”

Judge Cohen said that extended prison time in this case suits the public’s best interests.

“The Defendant has demonstrated, from his initial contact with the criminal justice system at age 15 until now, he cannot refrain from violating the law,” said Judge Cohen. “He has been convicted of four prior felonies and has engaged in extreme acts of violence. The facts underlying the Rape 1 and Assault 1 convictions are particularly egregious in their depravity. […] Defendant’s criminal history is replete with committing one felony after another. He has also repeatedly violated parole. His crimes have hurt people and endangered the public.”

Lowery has spent most of his adult life in prison. The longest period of time he has spent out of prison or jail since age 19 is 2 years, from January 2011 to February 2013. After misdemeanor convictions at age 15 and 17, in 1976 at age 19 he raped a female SUNY Geneseo student he met in a local bar after she refused to let him come to her dorm room.

After being paroled and revoked multiple times after that, in 1985 he was involved in a car accident and lied at Grand Jury as to who was driving. He was convicted of Perjury in 1986, and while awaiting sentencing at the Livingston County Jail he with two others made tools to escape their cells, viciously beat a Livingston County Sheriff’s Deputy until he was unrecognizable, and were apprehended the next day when their vehicle struck a police barricade on I-390 in Dansville.

Lowery beat a charge of Attempted Murder but was found guilty of two counts of Assault in the Second Degree, Escape in the First Degree, Conspiracy in the Second Degree, Possession of Prison Contraband in the First Degree, and Criminal Possession of Stolen Property at a 1987 trial presided over by Judge Ronald Cicoria and prosecuted by DA Theodore Wiggins.

After many problems and violations thereafter in prison and on parole, Lowery was convicted of his fifth felony in January 2014, Failure to Register or Verify as a Sex Offender.

Lowery’s defense attorney, Larry Kasperek, offered as mitigating information that Lowery’s and friends have submitted numerous letters of support saying that he is a good father, grandfather, and friend, and that he has gone out of his way to support family members in need while on parole. Kasperek said that Lowery’s grandchildren hope to play hide-and-seek with him via Skype.