Dentist's defense: My CIA claim was so bogus, I should be acquitted

A Kingston dentist acquitted of killing his lover's husband but convicted of possessing forged documents purported to be from the CIA offered an imaginative argument for why an appeals court should reverse that conviction.

Dr. Gilberto Nunez argued his conviction on forgery possession charges in Ulster County should be thrown out because his assertion he was in the CIA was absurd and despite documents found on his computer "no reasonable person would perceive them to be authentic."

"We cannot agree," the Albany-based Appellate Division of state Supreme Court wrote rejecting Nunez's appeal on Thursday.

"The identification document found on defendant's computer has the text 'Central Intelligence Agency' across the top, bears the CIA seal and a bar code, contains defendant's photograph and sets forth other identifying information, such as defendant's name and purported title," the judge's wrote in an unanimous opinion.

Nunez was ordered to serve a one-year sentence in the local jail after the jury convicted him of the forgery charge.

He would have faced much more prison time if he was convicted of second-degree murder in the Nov. 29, 2011, death of Thomas Kolman, 44. Toxicology reports revealed significant amounts of midazolam, a sedative used primarily by doctors and dentists, in Kolman's system.

Nunez became a suspect in the death and police searched his home, discovering a document that appeared to be a CIA identification card bearing his name and photograph. Nunez later gave a "CIA" letter to his lawyer who turned it over to police.

Nunez had dated Linda Kolman, the dead man's wife, prosecutors asserted, but the couple reconciled before Kolman died.

The year before the death, Linda Kolman told Nunez that she was getting text messages from someone using the identity "Samantha" and claiming "Samantha" was having an affair with her husband. Nunez told the woman he was a "special agent" with the CIA and offered to have a friend in the CIA look into the matter.

A week later, Nunez gave her a letter bearing CIA letterhead that detailed the investigation. She initially dismissed it as absurd but Nunez berated her and asked for the letter back. She kept it.

Thursday's ruling wasn't Nunez only legal defeat. In a unrelated case, the appellate division upheld his 2017 grand larceny and insurance fraud conviction and his sentencing to 1 to 4 years in prison. Nunez argued the sentencing in that case was colored by the murder case but the appellate division rejected that argument.

Nunez is service that sentence at the Altona Correctional Facility in Clinton County.