Thursday, August 4, 2005

D.A. BROWN: BROOKLYN MAN SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS TO LIFE IN SHOOTING OF FEMALE EMPLOYEE OF CHINESE RESTAURANT DURING ARMED ROBBERY; CO-DEFENDANT ALSO SERVING LIFE SENTENCE

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that an unemployed Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the July 2003 shooting death of a female employee of a Chinese restaurant during a robbery. An accomplice in the murder-robbery was similarly sentenced earlier this year.

District Attorney Brown said, “Today’s defendant and his accomplice have now been held accountable for the vicious shooting death of a hardworking young woman who worked long hours to support her family. Their actions were responsible for taking a life and shattering a family. The sentences imposed by the court are more than warranted.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant in today’s sentencing as Jamel Heyward, 27, of 186 Amboy Street in Brooklyn. Heyward was convicted following a jury trial on June 21, 2005, of Murder in the Second Degree and Robbery in the First Degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael D. Aloise, who presided at trial, imposed today’s indeterminate sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, at 10:30 p.m. on July 18, 2003, the defendant and an accomplice entered the Beautiful Gardens Chinese Restaurant at 21-03 Cornega Avenue in Far Rockaway, Queens. During a robbery, in which about $500 was taken, Heyward’s accomplice pointed a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic handgun at the cashier, Lin Li Zhen, 25, of Far Rockaway, and shot her once in the head, fatally wounding her. Both assailants then fled on foot.

Heyward’s accomplice, Lueggie Dowling, 23, of 409 Beach 51st Street in Far Rockaway, Queens, was convicted after a jury trial of Murder in the Second Degree, Robbery in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree on January 27, 2005, before Queens Supreme Court Justice Roberta L. Dunlop, who sentenced Dowling to 25 years to life in prison on March 2, 2005.

Both cases were prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Brad A. Leventhal, Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crime Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney James W. Evangelou, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials James C. Quinn and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Trials John H. Larsen.