Thursday, July 7, 2005
D.A. BROWN: QUEENS MAN SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS IN PRISON IN SLAYING OF AUNT
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Jamaica, Queens man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the December 2003 shooting death of his aunt who owned and operated a daycare center in Richmond Hill.
District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant shot his aunt, a beloved and respected member of the community, numerous times and took her life. Her untimely and violent death left the children that she cared for and loved and their families shattered. The punishment is more than warranted for what was a heinous crime.”
District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Raymond Smith, 33, of 94-24 Van Wyck Expressway in Richmond Hill, Queens who pled guilty on June 16, 2005 to Manslaughter in the First Degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert C. Hanophy who earlier today imposed a determinate term of 25 years in prison.
According to the District Attorney, the defendant admitted that on December 3, 2003 at the Tots Learning World and Rose Tutoring Center at 94-24 Van Wyck Expressway in Richmond Hill, a daycare center owned by the victim, Effie Roseborough, 57, he shot his aunt 16 times using two separate handguns. The victim’s body was found in a second-floor vacant apartment.
The defendant was arrested later that night inside Flushing Meadow Park in Corona after a high speed chase by police on the Grand Central Parkway. At time of arrest he was in possession of numerous handguns including one of the murder weapons.
Assistant District Attorney Denise Tirino of the District Attorney’s Homicide Trials Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Jack Warsawsky, Deputy Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.