BROOKLYN MAN WHO FIRED HIS ATTORNEY BEFORE SUMMATIONS CONVICTED OF 1999 MURDER OF QUEENS WOMAN

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Brooklyn man who fired his attorney on the morning of the closing arguments of the trial has been convicted of the brutal 1999 murder of a Queens woman who was bound, smothered and then had her apartment set on fire. Another defendant in this case was convicted of Murder in the First Degree in November and sentenced last month to 35 years to life in prison.

District Attorney Brown identified today’s defendant as Kevin Brooks, 31, of 1608 President Street, Brooklyn, who was convicted of two counts of Murder in the Second Degree, one count of Robbery in the First Degree, one count of Robbery in the Second Degree and one count of Burglary in the First Degree for the October 23, 1999 murder of Tracie Harrison before Supreme Court Justice Richard L. Buchter. Judge Buchter is expected to impose sentence on March 11 2002, at which time the defendant faces a maximum prison term of 25 years to life in prison.

District Attorney Brown said, "This case -- a most brutal and senseless crime -- should send a strong, clear message to those who participate in such criminal activities that they are just as responsible for the crime as the actual triggerman -- or in this case, the woman who smothered the victim and then returned to the scene to torch the apartment."

According to the evidence at trial, the defendant, acting in concert with five others, broke into the victim’s residence at 107-35 164 Street, Jamaica to steal property. They waited for the victim, who was alone that night, to shut the lights off before entering through a window. The defendant knocked the victim down and held her while another defendant, who pled guilty, tied her arms and legs. Another defendant, who has already been convicted and sentenced in connection with the crime, smothered the victim to death by placing a pillow on the victim’s head and then sitting on the pillow.

Before leaving the house, Brooks and the others, it was testified, stole all of the electronic equipment and carpenter’s tools they could find in the house and loaded the items into the victim’s fiancée's van. The defendants then unloaded the van at a relative’s house and set it on fire at another location. Finally, according to the evidence, the group returned to the victim’s house where two defendants -- one already convicted -- poured kerosene on the first and second floors and set the house on fire.

District Attorney Brown identified the other defendants as Charles Robertson, 29, of 16 Grant Avenue, Brooklyn; Reginald Thompson, 34, of 125 Newport Street, Brooklyn; Willis Moore, 40 and Ivory Sanders, 31, both of 340 Williams Avenue, Brooklyn. Defendant Robertson pled guilty to burglary charges on February 5, 2001 and is expected to receive a sentence of ten years in prison. Defendant Sanders pled guilty to the same charges on November 2, 2000 and is expected to receive a fifteen year prison term when he is sentenced. Nicki Havner, 27, of 340 Williams Avenue, Brooklyn was convicted of murder in November and sentenced last month to a term of 35 years to life. Both Thompson and Moore are awaiting trial.

Assistant District Attorneys Francesco Catarisano and Shawn Clark of the District Attorney’s Kew Gardens II Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Daniel M. Sullivan and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials James C. Quinn, handled the prosecution.