BURLINGTON — The stepson of a Williston man shot and killed in Hinesburg earlier this summer pleaded not guilty to illegally possessing the gun police said was used in the shooting.
Kory Lee George, 31, appeared Friday in federal court on two counts of possessing firearms as a convicted felon as Vermont State Police continue their investigation into the July 11 homicide of David Auclair, 45, of Williston.
George, of Monkton, is accused of illegally possessing a Savage Arms Stevens Model shotgun and a Beretta Model 92FS 9 mm caliber pistol, the gun where police say the bullets came from which killed Auclair.
No one has been arrested in Auclair’s death — authorities have declined to name George as a suspect.
Auclair was found dead at around 10:40 p.m. July 11 at the LaPlatte Headwaters Town Forest in Hinesburg. He had been shot multiple times, and his body was found near his GMC pickup truck.
At Friday’s arraignment, Judge John Conroy ordered George be kept in custody. George’s federal public defender, Michael Desautels, argued that George should be released on conditions.
Desautels argued only circumstantial evidence tied George to the Beretta pistol, as there was no fingerprint or DNA evidence directly connecting the gun to George.
“The implication created by the government is Mr. George shot his stepfather, and that’s not supported by the evidence at this point,” Desautels said.
Desautels conceded that there was more evidence tying George to possession of the shotgun, which was found at George’s house. But Desautels said the government had not provided evidence showing the pistol had been in George’s possession.
Spencer Willig, assistant U.S. Attorney, said that there was a “layered and fairly involved tapestry” of witness statements, forensic evidence and cellphone location data which tied George to the pistol.
Willig said that there was “substantial evidence” that the pistol was the “murder weapon” used in Auclair’s death.
Federal prosecutors say George stole the Beretta during a robbery of another man’s home on July 10 and stole the shotgun in an early 2019 burglary of an upstate New York camp “familiar” to George.
Police found the Beretta and the prepaid phone that police say was used to lure Auclair to the site of his murder in Lewis Creek in Monkton near the crime scene. The shotgun was found in an Aug. 2 search of George’s mobile home.
The phone was purchased from a Rite Aid in Milton, which George admitted to police he had gone to that day.
George has a lengthy criminal history, including felony convictions for escape, assault and robbery with weapon, grand larceny, burglary of an occupied dwelling and eight counts of failing to appear in court.
Conroy said that he believed George was a risk of flight and a threat to the community, and ordered he continue to be held.
After the hearing, Thomas George, Kory George’s estranged brother and Auclair’s stepson, said he supported Conroy’s decision to keep George in custody.
“It’s the best thing that could have happened, we just wanted him gone,” Thomas George said.
