New York Daily News reports<\/a> that McGee and Gelzer had an arrangement in which Gelzer furnished heroin and crack in exchange for sexual favors from McGee\u2019s wife, Heather Stines.\u00a0<\/p>\nOn the day of Gelzer\u2019s death, Stines refused to give Gelzer oral sex, and Gelzer declined to give the couple drugs. Angered by the exchange, McGee began stabbing Gelzer while he slept on McGee\u2019s couch.<\/p>\n
According to court filings, McGee chopped up Gelzer\u2019s corpse and stored portions in his refrigerator and freezer until January 20, 2024, when New York Police Department officers acted on a Crimestoppers tip that Stines was heading a dead body in the apartment.<\/p>\n
Stines pleaded guilty last year to concealment of a corpse and bail jumping and is awaiting sentencing.\n<\/p>\n
The case is captioned People v. McGee, Ind. No. 70707-24<\/p>\n
Church didn\u2019t violate rural zoning code with religious retreat, should get tax exemption, split appeals court rules<\/p>\n
In a 4-3 split, the Court of Appeals ruled a church property primarily used for farming in a rurally zoned district where religious gatherings aren\u2019t permitted violate zoning code and should receive a religious tax exemption, affirming lower court decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Writing for the majority, Chief Judge Rowan Wilson said the Queens-based First United Methodist Church should be granted a religious tax exemption for a property in the Town of Callicoon\u2019s rural district. The church initially purchased the property with the intent to create a religious \u201cretreat center\u201d but actually uses it almost entirely for farming produce to give to low-income families from Flushing, Queens.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile an exemption statute is to be construed strictly against those arguing for nontaxability, the interpretation should not be so narrow and literal as to defeat its settled purpose, which in this instance is that of encouraging, fostering and protecting religious and educational institutions,\u201d Wilson wrote. \u201c[T]here is simply no basis [to believe the church created]\u2026a zoning violation sufficient to defeat a tax exemption.\u201d<\/p>\n
The church brought a case against the Town of Callicoon after it repeatedly denied the church\u2019s tax exemption requests. Church representatives testified they only held two, small overnight retreats on the property where \u201cbible study\u201d and farming occurred, and since the property\u2019s primary use was farming, it wasn\u2019t in violation of the zoning code and should receive a tax exemption.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The town argued the church was not eligible for a tax exemption because any religious gathering broke the zoning code, which permits the site to be used for agriculture, single-family homes and government buildings.<\/p>\n
The three-judge dissent agreed with the town, arguing that the church was clearly violating the town\u2019s zoning code by holding religious retreats on the property and therefore not entitled to tax exemptions from the town.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn multiple occasions, the Church violated the Town\u2019s zoning code by holding religious gatherings on the property, because such gatherings do not fall within any \u201cpermitted use\u201d in the RU Rural District,\u201d Judge Jenny Rivera wrote for the dissent. \u201cThe Supreme Court therefore should have denied the Church\u2019s petitions, regardless of how the Church used the property on other occasions. The majority\u2019s analysis to reach the opposite conclusion is a house of cards, constructed by individually unpersuasive arguments that cause the whole structure to come collapsing down upon minimal scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
The case is captioned Matter of First United Methodist Church in Flushing v. Assessor, Town of Callicoon, 2025 NY Slip Op 06526<\/p>\n
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