South Florida Criminal Attorneys Blog

Parkland Woman Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Conspiracy Charge

November 1, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

A Parkland Florida resident pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Launder Money after admitting to her part in an expansive $8 million illegal gambling setup that used phony corporations, offshore accounts and operated using the Internet and direct telephone call contact.

Michele Lasso-Barraza, 30, a Panamanian national, delivered her plea from Florida via a video feed which was filed in U.S. District Court in Albany, New York. The prosecution alleged that she laundered the proceeds gained from gambling websites that was made available to her; allowing gamblers to place wagers via the Internet. She then transferred the ill-gotten gains, using bogus entities which she created, into bank accounts that were located offshore.

Lasso-Barraza’s role in the case is connected to Philip Gurian, another Florida man who was purportedly linked to the Mafia and was an important operative in the gambling entity which offered online and by phone sports betting from Costa Rica and Panama to its player base which was predominantly made up of residents of the United States. Gurian, 52, of Boca Raton, and Lasso-Barraza were among over thirty persons that were charged last April for their connection to the Panama-based Corporation known as Legends a/k/a Legendz Sports.

The indictment against a total of 23 companies and 34 individuals accused Legendz of offering betting options by credit, as well as maintained accounts known as “post-ups.” Both types of betting methods combined, netted the company profits of over two-billion dollars over the past ten years.

Those named in the indictment face charges of operating an illegal gambling business, racketeering, conspiring to commit money laundering and money laundering. Penalties for these crimes can range from five to twenty years.

The Department of Justice is also pursuing the forfeiture of a minimum of one-billion dollars of tangible assets of the firm which include balances in bank accounts, real estate, vehicles, as well as other monetary holdings of value.

Gurian had previously waived the grand jury indictment and accepted a guilty plea for the charge of conspiracy in association to the role he played in the international sports betting operation.

A charge and conviction for his type of allegation can yield a prison term of up to twenty years behind bars. However under the plea agreement negotiated between Gurian’s attorneys and the government, combined with sentencing guideline calculations that are utilized in federal cases, it is expected that he will be sentenced to two years in prison at a maximum. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6, 2014
As part of her acceptance of the guilty plea, Lasso-Barraza admitted her participation in the illegal gambling business which was directed by Gurian as well as other individuals that permitted bettors to wager thousands of bets originating from Florida, California, Texas, Indiana Nevada and the District of Columbia. She also confessed to participating in at least $8 million of the laundering of money which was fashioned from the unlawful gaming enterprise that she was a part of on Gurian’s behalf. She then had the currency transported to offshore accounts that were deceptively created and set up by her with locations in Panama, Andorra, and the Cayman Islands.

Lasso-Barraza faces a fine of a half a million USD and up to twenty years in prison for her role in her illicit activities. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 28, 2014.

These proceedings are being prosecuted by AUSA Robert A. Sharpe. All charges were the product of a combined investigation introduced by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office and further assisted by the Albany County District Attorney’s Office, as well as the Saratoga District Attorney’s Office in New York. In Florida, the Broward County Money Laundering Task Force is credited with the role they played. Federal law enforcement agencies recognized for their assistance in the case are the FBI and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division.

Man Charged in Greenwich Village Hate Crime Murder

October 30, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Greenwich Village is a mostly residential area of the west side of Lower Manhattan. The largest majority of people who live there are basically upper middle class families. Known in the latter part of the 19th century through the present, the “Village” has been labeled a haven for artists, as well as the bohemian capital of New York City. It is also credited as the birthplace of the Beat movement of the East Coast. The neighborhood is encompassed by Broadway to the east and the Hudson River to its furthest point west. To the south lies Houston Street and it travels north to 14th Street. The neighborhood essentially centers New York University and Washington Square Park.

Living among the wealthy residents who live in stylish apartment buildings or own their own renovated brownstones, there is a large gay community. This group is known to mostly frequent the bars and clubs of the west village.

While traveling through the Village it is not unusual to run across openly gay members of its population. Two men, or two women, walking together holding hands with each other is more the rule than its exception. Especially north of the Avenue of the Americas which is the unofficial line of demarcation separating the east and west village. Within the community’s whole there is the realm of gay men and lesbians and the bars they frequent as well as the domain of straight men and women who visit clubs that fit a heterosexual lifestyle.

It was on a corner of the Avenue of the Americas that Mark Carson, 32, heard the words “You want to die tonight?”

Carson was walking with a companion as he was being followed by Elliot Morales, who was repeatedly shouting anti-gay slurs at the two. After his final hateful proclamation, he allegedly shot Carson in the face with a silver revolver. Carson was found fatally wounded by police lying in the street and later died of his injuries after being taken to Beth Israel Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A short time later, Morales was picked up when a police officer spotted him a few blocks away from the crime scene. The officer heard the description of the perpetrator on his radio and made the arrest upon seeing Morales.

Approximately 15 minutes before the murder took place, the alleged killer was noticed urinating outside a fashionable restaurant a few blocks from the crime scene, according to New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Kelly labeled the murder a hate crime. “There were no words that would aggravate the situation, and the victim did not know the perpetrator,” he said.

Before a commencement address that he delivered in White Plains, when speaking about the incident, he went on to say “It is clear that the victim here was killed only because and just because he was thought to be gay. There is no question about that.”

Police also questioned two unidentified individuals who had been seen with Morales moments before the shooting took place. The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said that the two men were questioned as witnesses to the murder and were not, considered suspects at this time. He also said that they were cooperating with the authorities.

According to state Department of Correction records it was found that Mr. Morales had been found guilty of a robbery and served more than 10 years in prison for his conviction of that crime. Until his arrest he had been staying with one of the two men who is now being questioned as a witness at his home in Far Rockaway, Queens. Police found another gun amongst Mr. Morales’s belongings at that location.

According to an undisclosed source, Mr. Morales’s sister, Edith Gutierrez, said she did not believe her brother could have committed a crime of such bias. She said that they have gay relatives and her brother had never shown any signs of homophobia. She also said that when she spoke with her brother in jail, “he said he doesn’t remember anything; he was under the influence, he was drinking.”

After making his first appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court, he was charged with murder and weapons charges, according to the Wall Street Journal. Pending his next court appearance he is being held without bail as ordered by Judge Robert Stolz.

Morales, said nothing at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court and his attorney chose not to comment on the case.

Man Indicted after Massive Drug Bust in Nice Bronx Neighborhood

October 29, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

The Horace Man School has been a fixture in the Riverdale section of the Bronx celebrating its one-hundred-twenty-fifth anniversary in 2012. In addition to Mann there are several schools in that area and thousands of children of school-age in attendance.

Fieldston Terrace is a peaceful street just a little north from The Horace Mann School. It was there that DEA agents were able to uncover close to 70 pounds of cocaine. The drug was carefully packaged in cellophane and found hidden in a closet in the bedroom of an apartment within the building that is located just west of Broadway, neighboring Van Cortlandt Park to the east. The Major Deegan Expressway goes directly through the park. The DEA has recently noted a trend where “stash houses” that hold large amounts of drugs have been found to be located neighboring major state interstate highways and thruways.

The stash was found this past September 26, which led to the immediate arrest of Juan Rojas, 30, who shared the apartment with his girlfriend Ana.

In addition to the cocaine that has been valued at over $1.5 million, two loaded firearms, scales, a money counter, drug ledgers as well as over $1.6 million in cash were seized by the DEA agents who made the bust.

A portion of the packages of cocaine were soaped in a type of grease, and a five-gallon container of that substance was also found in close proximity to the stockpile of drugs. According to DEA sources, drug traffickers brush cocaine with this type of grease to disguise the scent from drug-sniffing dogs that are trained to track illegal substances. The container’s incidence in the bedroom led law enforcement officials to believe that the apartment was used as a “stash house” which held the drugs before they were staged and transported, according to DEA Agent spokeswoman Erin Mulvey. “It was going to be used to mask the smell in transportation somewhere,” she stated referring to the confiscated tub of grease. Based on calculations, law enforcement believes that Rojas was trafficking in the area of 110 pounds of cocaine on a monthly basis. The apartment was targeted by DEA agents as a suspected drug trafficking locality as part of an ongoing investigation

The apartment was neither listed in the name of Rojas or his girlfriend. Records revealed that it was listed under the name of a Ms. Then.

Rojas, 30, now faces charges of first-and-third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance; one third-degree count of criminal possession of a weapon as well as two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. In the statement that was released by the DEA it wasn’t specified if the suspect caused any commotion when he was arrested as the raid took place. His girlfriend Ana, who was present at the apartment when the bust went down, was taken into custody and later pleaded guilty to criminal facilitation which is a misdemeanor.

Rojas was indicted last week after being held without bail since his arrest. His attorney stated that his client has no prior records of arrest and pointed out that the apartment belonged to another person. “It was another individual’s apartment and he’s going to vigorously fight the case,” commented his attorney in a phone interview with the Riverdale Press. The lawyer went on to say that his client planned to plead not guilty at his arraignment which is scheduled for next week.

Neighbors that were interviewed by the same publication that conducted the telephone interview reported that they seemed surprised by news of the goings on in the apartment.

Hollywood Cop Faces DUI Charges after Arrest by Fellow Officer

October 25, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

“As a talented eighth-grader moving from Optimist League football to high school, DiIvory Edgecomb thought he could adjust quickly.” reported the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel in a December 2003 article that was publicized in their sports section.

And based on the Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) official Website, he did just that. Edgecomb, now 27, still holds the FAU Owls single-season kick return record with 1,155 yards in the 2007 season as well as being the record holder for most returns in a single game with seven. He was also third in the category of most all-purpose yards in a single season with 1,761. He graduated FAU in 2009 but did not go on to play professional football.

He was hired by the Hollywood Police Department in November 2009 and a according to Union leader Jeff Marano “comes from a law enforcement family”. His LinkedIn social media profile lists him as “Entrepreneur, Realtor, Investor, Philanthropist, Enthusiast” He’s also listed as a licensed real estate sales associate with The Keyes Company in Hollywood.
But recently, the once aspiring golden boy’s good fortune seems to have dramatically changed course.

Late last month Edgecomb was arrested by officers from his own department for charges of Driving under the Influence (DUI). He was directly relieved of his duties and placed on paid administrative leave. He was further ordered to relinquish his squad car, badge, and department-issued firearm, according to Lieutenant Osvaldo Perez of the Hollywood Police Department.

The incident took place a short time after 1:30 a.m., on Sept. 30 as Edgecomb was driving his grey Toyota in the northbound lane of North 22nd Avenue in Hollywood. He was travelling in a southerly direction when his car struck another vehicle.

Shantrice Shipman, the driver of the vehicle that was hit told police that a car was coming toward her in the wrong lane. She said that she turned sharply to the left in an effort to avoid a collision. But as she swerved her car away from the other vehicle it crashed into her car, hitting it on the passenger side. After the impact, the driver of the Toyota continued driving south, apparently without making an attempt to stop at all.

Edgecomb’s damaged vehicle was detected by Hollywood police about a half a mile from the crash, not moving, on the side of the road. The right front side of the car was noticeably dented and one of the tires was flat.

The officer that interviewed Edgecomb at the scene noted that his eyes were bloodshot and his breath smelled from alcohol, He also wrote in his report that the subject’s speech was slurred.

Edgecomb refused to take part in a roadside sobriety test. He also told police that he had nothing to say until he was able to contact his attorney. He was arrested at 3:40 a.m. and driven to be processed at the Broward Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility which is located at Hollywood Police Headquarters. After posting a bond of $1,500.00 he was released just after 2:00pm that same afternoon. His attorney could not be reached for comment on behalf of his client. Union leader Jeff Marano termed Edgecomb a “good, solid” cop, however the beleaguered officer declined to comment through his Union leader as well.

“He’s a sweetheart,” Marano said and went on to say that he “comes from a law enforcement family. Always has a smile on his face. He’s a great kid.”

However, the Hollywood Police Department will have to deal with the fact that one of their own is facing charges for DUI after being arrested by a fellow officer.
Currently, his case is pending.

Cab Driver Faces Vehicular Homicide for Hit and Run Death of Homeless Man

October 21, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Two good Samaritans stopped their vehicles and attempted to help a man that was terribly injured but apparently still alive, lying on a Dania Beach thoroughfare just before 4:30 in the morning.

Bernard Williams, 62, of Dania Beach turned out to be a homeless man, according to a report issued by the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Why he was lying in the road when a car struck him is unknown, but a sheriff’s deputy recognized him when he arrived at the scene where the man was still lying in the road, clinging to life. The police officer had seen the homeless man around the vicinity on numerous occasions. Tests also revealed that the victim’s blood alcohol level was 0.22 which a medical examiner said “could impair a person’s normal faculties.”

The hit and run took place at the 1200 block of Federal Highway on June 5 in front of Cyber Pizza Cafe. He was later pronounced dead at the scene by fire rescue.

When police began their investigation, it was a surveillance camera from a neighboring business that was credited with showing a vehicle moving in a southerly direction on Federal Highway (US1) around the time Mr. Williams was struck. The car was then identified as a white taxi which proved to be owned by Yellow Cab which serves South Florida cities in that area. After the taxi was identified, authorities asked the company for a list of the drivers who were operating their cabs at the time.

Examining the suspected vehicle, the Sheriff’s Department uncovered fatty tissue fixed to the undercarriage of the cab as well as the front bumper exposing chips in the finish of the paint. During Williams’ autopsy, a similar fragment of white paint was found on the victim’s chest that ultimately established a match to the vehicle.

From the taxi company’s records it was determined that Michael Brandt, 58, of Hollywood was the driver of that cab at the time of the crash. The Broward Sherriff’s Office obtained a warrant for his arrest on October 15. He was subsequently arrested and charged with the crime of leaving the scene of an accident w/death, which is a first-degree felony. He is facing charges of vehicular homicide mostly due to the circumstance that he fled the scene. Brandt originally told detectives that he was in the Hallandale Beach and Hollywood area at the time of the incident but lab analysis samples obtained from the vehicle matched Williams’ DNA, confirming that the vehicle in question was in fact the taxi that struck him, and was clearly being driven by Brandt at the time.

According to the report filed, investigators said Brandt had to have more than a slight idea that he had collided with something due to the “severity” of the crash. Brandt “did know or should have known that the incident would have or could have caused injury or death to a person.”

Myrtle Corbin, the victim’s sister told the Sun Sentinel newspaper shortly after he was run down that her brother was homeless and living on the streets for more than 20 years. She noted that he opted to live that lifestyle in spite of him being in touch with relatives.

Her statement to the news reporter was “I never dreamed he would go this way. I just know that he doesn’t have to suffer through what he was going through in this life anymore… I feel the person who did it needs to be reprimanded in some way, or at least admit that you did it.”

According to the Broward County Clerk of the Court’s Website, Brandt is still in custody and his case is pending. Judge Raag Singhal will preside over the case if it goes to trial.

Human Trafficking Victims Held for Years Mirror Amanda Berry Case

October 20, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Amanda Berry escaped to a neighbor’s house and made that call earlier this month. The two other women that were held at the property were Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight who were grabbed after the seizure of Miss Berry.

As this tale of misery continues to unfold and dominate the National headlines Berry’s disappearance was a National story in itself after she disappeared 10 years ago.

As hard as it is to believe that these women could be successfully held captive for such an extended period of time, similar stories come to light every day throughout the United States.

Mirroring the Amanda Berry story, a great amount of women are abducted and held captive for months and sometimes many years. A substantial amount of them are led into a life of prostitution by their kidnappers.

At about the same time that the three women and one child were emancipated from their captor in Cleveland, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were making arrests.

The ICE Homeland Security Investigations directorate is an Agency that is in authority of investigating a wide array of domestic and international actions arising from the illegal movement of people and merchandise into, within, and out of the country.

Last month, they issued search warrants for four brothels in Queens and Yonkers and as far north as upstate Poughkeepsie and Newburgh. By way of these warrants, nine men from Queens were taken into custody. Three other targets of the warrants were found to already be incarcerated on unrelated charges and one of the suspects remains at large. They were charged in an alleged sex trafficking and prostitution ring which was said to have been shaped as early as 2008. Victims in the case were not physically abducted per se, but the commonality to the Cleveland case is that some of them were held by their captors’ for vast periods of time.

Most of the victims were lured from Tenancingo, Mexico by men who enticed them with promises of romance and/or assurances of a better life in the United States.

“The members of this alleged sex trafficking and prostitution ring lured their unsuspecting victims to the United States and then consigned them to a living hell – forcing them to become sex slaves living in abhorrent conditions, and using threats, verbal abuse, and violence – sexual and otherwise – when they resisted and even sometimes when they didn’t,” said U.S. attorney Preet Bharara in a recent statement.

Labeled as the “world capital of sex trafficking” by U.S. government authorities, the rural region of Tenancingo, Mexico appears to spawn a remarkable amount of sex traffickers that have been arrested by ICE agents in New York City and its outlying areas. Tenancingo, a town of approximately 10,000 people is located within 80 miles of its Capital; Mexico City and has earned the aforesaid reprehensible distinction due to the many arrests made in New York and other parts of the country during the last decade.

The sex trafficking route from Tenancingo that once led straight to Jackson Heights has expanded far outside the city limits, a thorough Daily News investigation illustrates.

The recent indictment of brothers Isaias and Bonifacio Flores-Mendez; by law enforcement shows exactly how far the venomous Queens-based crews have expanded.

They operate covert brothels in homes located in the Hudson Valley and improvised houses of ill-reputed on New Jersey farms, bullying girlfriends and even their wives into lives of prostitution.

“We see here that they have moved (farther) out,” said ICE Special Agent in Charge James Hayes after the upstate raid at the end of April. “It seems like the word is getting out that we’re cracking down in the New York City area.”

Since last October, 33 arrests relating to sex-trafficking have been achieved in New York all of them dealing with suspects from the town of Tenancingo.

One of the victims that the Daily News is only calling “Ana” in the attempt to protect her actual identity spoke about the life she was forced to live saying “Some weekends, I would just have to try to stand it. Drunks, insults. Sometimes on a weekend it would be 30, 40 a night. And you would have to keep going,” She was led to farms, brothels or “delivery service” setups on Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and as far away as Maryland. In most cases the leaders of the sex ring would keep all of her earnings.

In a telephone conversation that was recorded by law enforcement, Carlos Garcia-de la Rosa, one of the drivers for the Flores-Mendez’s organization was heard asking a 14-year old girl to have naked pictures of herself taken and then texted to him. He was charged with child pornography according to court papers.

Another one of their drivers David Vasquez-Medina forced his girlfriend to turn tricks working against her will for over two years with Vasquez-Medina reaping all the benefits of her labors as also indicated in the court documents.

Also, according to court papers, another alleged victim was brought to Queens from Mexico along with her child. She was recruited into the Flores-Mendez’s organization of prostitution and severely beaten when she refused to go along with their plans for her. She slept in the kitchen, under the table of her torturer’s 112th St. home.

In the end, she wound up giving in and then having sex with more than 20 men daily also turning over all of her earnings to the Flores-Mendez gang. During the course of her exploits she became pregnant. She was then forced to take the drug Cytotec for the purpose of causing a miscarriage, according to court papers.

“After periods of victimization – typically months or years – many victims manage to escape,” the complaint reads. It goes on further to say “Without legal status in the United States, without family or friends for support, without employment opportunities, and as a result of the trauma they have suffered, victims sometimes return to prostitution.”

Ten of the women who had been forced into the illicit operation were able to approach law enforcement and were rescued over numerous years, according to ICE.

ICE Special agent in charge James Hayes said on the day of the arrests: ‘The arrests today move the United States closer to blockading the repugnant sex trafficking corridor that organizations like the one allegedly operated by Isaias Flores-Mendez and his cohorts use to smuggle innocent victims between Tenancingo, Mexico and New York City.”

‘With their arrests today, the barbaric conduct in which these defendants allegedly engaged in order to make a profit has now been put to a stop, and they will be prosecuted for their alleged crimes and the women they enslaved will be able to put their lives back together” as stated by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

To read the shocking statistics dealing with human trafficking in the United States, click here.

“Fundamental Error” in Jury Instructions Awards Marissa Alexander New Trial

October 17, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

The phone call was everything she had hoped for. After completing more than a year of a twenty-year sentence, Marissa Alexander’s attorney made the phone call that let his client know that an appellate court judge had ordered a new trial for the the Florida woman who fired what she and her family labeled a warning shot in the direction of her husband, Rico Gray; a man she believed was threatening her life. Mr. Gray’s two children were also in the general vicinity where and when the shots were fired.

In an interview with CNN, one of her lawyers said “Marissa was ecstatic and obviously she’s incredibly thankful and wants to get back with her family,”
In an article posted here last week it was demonstrated how the mother of three from Jacksonville was convicted in a failed “stand your ground” defense and began serving her mandatory minimum sentence that fell under Florida’s 10-20-life law which was instituted in 1999. The section of the law that applied to Marissa’s case states that if someone fires a gun they’re to receive a mandatory 20 year sentence if convicted of charges connected to the crime.

In full, the 10-20-Life statute relates to those convicted of crimes where a gun or similar destructive device was used. For displaying and pointing a gun during the commission of a crime, a conviction would be imposed of a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. For selected felonies, committed or attempted, the 10 year mandatory sentence is also approved if the accused even just possessed a gun during the commission of the crime. The mandatory minimum sentence is 20 years for firing the weapon during the course of the offense. And if a victim is injured or killed due to the results of the gun being fired during the time-frame in which the crime transpires, a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years can be imposed. Lifetime sentences can also be levied under the preceding circumstance. Furthermore, the law also affords a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison for any individual previously convicted of a felony who even possesses a gun.

A lot of media coverage was given to her case after the George Zimmerman not guilty verdict which may have contributed to the reason the first District Court of Appeal ruled in her favor stating that Alexander merits a new trial for the reason that the trial judge handling her case did not instruct the jury properly concerning what is needed to prove and disprove self-defense.

Judge Robert Benton wrote the new ruling stating that the original instructions given established a “fundamental error” and required the defendant’s attorneys’ to prove self-defense “beyond a reasonable doubt.” However, he also made it clear in the ruling that the court was correct in blocking the “stand your ground” defense again.

One of the attorneys representing Alexander said she was thankful for the “thorough consideration” delivered by the court. She went on to say that “we are looking forward to taking the case back to trial,” Another from her team of lawyers said “She deserves a fair trial just like any other person, and the presumption of innocence has returned to her and we believe that a jury that hears the full case and has correct law will hopefully vindicate her and acquit her of all charges.”

Before the 2010 incident and subsequent guilty verdict, Alexander had never been arrested or charged with any crime. But even though it was her first offense, the judge maintained he was bound by the law’s minimum sentencing instructions to uphold a penalty of 20 years in prison once she was convicted of the allegations. Alexander was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She has maintained from the beginning that the shot fired was a warning shot and not ever meant to cause any injury.

She had previously declined a plea deal of three years in prison believing that the original jury would acquit her once her story was told. It took that jury 13 minutes to convict her.

Last week, a trial judge issued an order to bring Alexander back to the Duval County jail from the state prison where she was serving her sentence in Marion County, Florida.

Staten Island Man Accepts Guilty Plea for Manslaughter

October 13, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

In Staten Island, the Arlington Terrace apartment complex in the Mariners Harbor section of the borough has a long history of violent events associated with its past. On July 1, 2012, Genard Droughn, a resident of North Carolina kept the housing development’s reputation intact. Droughn was originally from the neighborhood but moved away in 2010. However, he often made trips back to visit members of his family.

Just as a jury was about to be assembled in the murder trial against him, Droughn agreed to a guilty plea of first-degree manslaughter in state Supreme Court, St. George, for the killing of Brian Norwood who was found dead in his car at 55 Holland Ave. Norwood and his girlfriend were apparently sleeping in the gold Nissan Altima, when Droughn shot him three times in the parking lot of the apartment complex. A source close to the investigation said Norwood was visiting the resident of the complex, and she had accidentally locked them out of her apartment. The source also mentioned that it was Norwood’s first time visiting Staten Island. Norwood was the father of three children and also left behind an aggregate of seven brothers and sisters.

The police found the victim’s body at around 7:40 in the morning. He was shot in the chest, back, and left arm, according to the same source. He was later pronounced dead after being taken to West Brighton’s Richmond University Medical Center.

There was no evidence that Droughn and Norwood even knew each other and the motive for the murder still remains a mystery. An unspecified law enforcement official said that they were looking into the possibility that the shooting may have been a circumstance of mistaken identity.

However, Mr. Norwood himself was not a model citizen. According to police sources, Norwood had an extensive rap sheet with at least11 arrests in New Jersey including charges of weapon possession and assault, to shoplifting and being in possession of counterfeit Compact Disks. The same source described him as a productive armed robber in his own hometown. “He’s sort of a drifter now, not really staying in one place,” said a another law enforcement official. He sustained at least three felony convictions according to public records. One of which was for a drug offense in 1999, another for aggravated assault in 1994, and most recently in 2007, a conviction for making terrorist threats as well as aggravated assault.

It took law enforcement less than a week to track down and arrest Droughn who fled to Charlotte, North Carolina where he was apprehended in a townhouse, where he lives with his two children and their mother. He was visiting relatives who lived on Staten Island during the time that he shot and killed Norwood.

A neighbor, Caroline Narducci, who was questioned about the latest incident, said “I’m tired of all this nonsense with the shootings. I didn’t see anything, but all I know is that some mother had to wake up on a Sunday morning and find out her son was killed.” Narducci’s apartment faced the crime scene.

An assortment of factors influenced the offer of the plea deal, primarily that the murder weapon wasn’t found. Ballistics demonstrated that it was a.40-caliber handgun. “The certainty of a verdict when weighed against the evidentiary difficulties and uncertainty of a trial, led to this being the best possible outcome in this case.” stated District Attorney Daniel Donovan. Although when a spokesman from Donovan’s office was questioned on the topic of problems with proof, he declined to comment further.

Droughn’s attorney stated that the negotiated sentence and plea was “a fair disposition considering all of the facts and circumstances of the case.”

Based on the terms of the plea agreement, Droughn will serve thirteen years in prison. At the end of that term he will submit to an additional period of five-years of supervised release. He will be sentenced later this week on Oct. 9.

As previously mentioned, the neighborhood itself has been a focal point of many violent episodes throughout the years. Last September, Samyah Bailey, was shot in the left eye by a fragment of a stray bullet. She was 22 months old at the time of the incident. In September 2010 Jerome Mitchell, 23, suffered gunshot wounds when he was shot in the lobby of the same building where this most recent shooting took place; 55 Holland Ave., and in November 2009 Jermaine Dickerson, 37 was also killed within the confines of the complex; similarly in a parking lot.

Marissa Alexander Serving 20-Year Sentence in Failed Stand Your Ground Defense

October 10, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

A case that gained National attention due to two controversial issues; the first, Florida’s stand your ground law which has been under recent scrutiny and the other, Florida’s 10-20-Life gun law statute remains in the headlines.

In the recent George Zimmerman acquittal the stand your ground defense wasn’t raised in the actual trial, but it is believed by some that the jury’s concluding decision was founded on the Judge not providing clear instructions before their deliberations began. This theory demonstrates that some members of the jury may have been led to believe that the law did apply, affecting their final decision of not guilty, with the statute in mind.

In the Marissa Alexander case, the statute was invoked, but the results of a jury that took only 12 minutes to decide her fate returned a guilty verdict, which led to the imposition of a twenty-year sentence under Florida’s 10-20-Life gun law.

A plea bargain of three years in prison was offered by the State Attorney’s Office but Alexander was sure that if a jury heard her story, she would undeniably be acquitted. However, after the court case that was decided in May of last year concluded, the outcome did not go her way.

Alexander, 31, stated that she wasn’t trying to hurt anyone when she fired what she and her family have termed a warning shot in the direction of her husband, Rico Gray, 36, and his two young boys during a fight between the two. According to her version of the story she was fighting back against a man who she claimed was habitually violent to her. She claimed that he choked and punched her on numerous occasions over the past year. It was her belief that she was sheltered by Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law when she fired a gun multiple times into the walls and ceiling where her husband stood.

The stand your ground statute sanctions extensive discretion in the use of deadly force as a defense if an individual believes that their life is in jeopardy or if they are facing the possibility of severe bodily harm.

State Attorney Angela Corey said that the case merited prosecution because the gun was fired in the direction of where two children were present and vulnerable.

Alexander was sure her version of the events were solid, but one key factor that transpired four months after she was released on bail convinced the prosecutor and may have swayed the jury not to believe her story.

After her original arrest, she was released on bail with specific instructions not to make contact with Gray whatsoever. However after her release she went to his residence getting into an argument with him which resulted in him sustaining multiple bruises including a black eye.

According to Alexander’s family, the second incident happened a few days before her newborn baby would have been dropped from the couple’s insurance policy. They maintain that Marissa travelled to Gray’s residence solely to ask him to sign forms that would have kept the policy active for the child. Her family inferred that he attacked her upon her arriving at his house that evening. They provided her medical records resulting from the incident to the Huffington Post periodical, which substantiated that she suffered minor bruising and scrapes on her arm, hand and face, as what they believed was evidence of what transpired at the scene of the incident.

Gray called the police after Alexander left his house, once the altercation had concluded.

Gray’s side of the story claimed that Alexander came over to drop off their daughter, and then asked him if she could spend the night there. When he rejected her offer, she “became enraged and began striking him on the face. Gray then raised his hands, and he yelled out to his sons to call the police,” according to the police report. The police officer that responded to the 911 call noted that Gray’s children substantiated their father’s account of the story.

When Alexander was contacted by the police that evening, she said she didn’t understand why she was being called upon and had an “alibi” for the time period in question, according to their report. Upon examination of Gray, the police found swelling on his face as well as a cut under his left eye. There were no visible injuries primarily found on Alexander but on the way back to jail she said she was feeling light-headed and subsequently became unresponsive. At that point one of the officers said that he “observed that there was a small cut under the suspect’s eye that was not there prior to her being placed in my back seat.”

Alexander was rearrested and this time charged with battery. She pleaded no contest to the new charge and has remained in prison since the new charges were added.

During Court Proceedings State attorney Corey stated that Alexander’s actions; interacting with the man she stated that she was deathly afraid of, and striking him, “didn’t show much of her being remorseful” or “being a peaceful person… “Everybody is still ignoring that she got out on bond and chose to go back over there and hit him a second time… That was kind of an indication of where putting her on probation, where you might have been able to do that before, was off the table since she disregarded a judge’s order.”

Alexander was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and awaits appeal for the twenty-year sentence.

Civil rights leaders were quick to point out that the African-American mother of three was prosecuted principally due to her race. U.S. Representative Corrine Brown, said the sentence, was too severe and Alexander should never have been charged in the first place based on the stand your ground statute.

Elderly North Carolina Man Apprehended after Robbing Bank in Great Neck, NY

October 7, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Dressed in a green shirt, blue pants, and white sneakers Raymond Young walked into a Great Neck, NY Chase bank branch on Middle Neck Road at 9:30 in the morning brandishing a handgun and “verbally demanded money from a teller,” police said. His trendy ensemble was topped off with a light-colored baseball cap.

What Mr. Young didn’t anticipate when he chose to rob that particular bank was that a Lake Success police officer would happen to be in the bank and witness the entire armed robbery. So when Young fled the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash, he already had the deck stacked against his possibility of escape.

Equipped with eye-witness identification by the officer, the Kings Point police were able to look back at surveillance video that was taken at the time of the holdup as well as having still photos including a direct shot of the perpetrator. They also performed a license plate “read” on the suspected vehicle using special equipment (Automatic number plate recognition, ALPR), which identified the suspect. The information was then released by the Kings Point department to the Nassau County Police and all other local area police agencies along with all photos and details of the heist.

Just after 7 p.m. the surveillance equipment alerted police that the suspect vehicle had entered the village, according to Kings Point Department Commissioner Jack Miller.

Coincidentally, it was a Lake Success police officer that made the actual arrest. Police Sgt. Thomas Alter told the Great Neck Record that the information relayed from the Kings Point Police Department as well as the visual sighting by their own officer was responsible for Mr. Young’s apprehension. His car was noticed by a Lake Success police officer, displaying the identified license plate, at the intersection of the Northern State Parkway and Lakeville Road where he quickly pulled over the alleged thief, arrested him, and took him into custody.

70-year old Raymond Young, from Memphis, Tennessee, was charged with first-degree criminal use of a firearm, and robbery, first-degree. The elderly man was arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead by Judge Eric Bjorneby who ordered him held without bail.

Commissioner Miller crowed to the Great Neck Record, a local newspaper, that Young’s arrest was greatly aided by his department, citing that they have a total of 19 cameras positioned in tactical areas throughout the village as well as at all entrances to the Long Island North Shore town. Kings Point is located on the Great Neck Peninsula in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County.

He pointed out that there are 19 cameras of this type in the village, such as the main camera on East Shore Road at the site of the Jewish Center (Chabad), and the one also on East Shore Road near the entrance to the village. He stressed that only a select group of Kings Point officers have total access to these camera in real time, but the department has the ability to always check the recorded videos and view any individuals that have come into or exited the community at any time during the course of each day.

Miller also said that the Village has plans to expand their surveillance system in due course to include a total of 44 license-plate readers at nineteen intersections within the confines of the Village which is a little more than three square miles in size. The proposal received worries from civil liberties activists in addition to local residents who were concerned about the cost of the elaborate system. However, this past June, a $1,140,000 bond offering was approved by the village for the expansion of the system.