FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2005

D.A. BROWN: JACKSON HEIGHTS TEENAGER SENTENCED TO 14 YEARS IN PRISON FOR SAVAGE BEATING AND DEATH OF 20-YEAR-OLD MAN

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a 19-year-old Jackson Heights youth has been sentenced to 14 years in state prison for the 2004 brutal assault upon a 20-year-old man. The victim, who slipped into a coma with a fractured skull and severe facial fractures, died nine days later as a result of his injuries.

District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant and others chased the victim down like a helpless animal and then savagely beat him repeatedly with aluminum bats, metal pipes, sticks and other weapons until he crumpled to the ground, beaten into unconsciousness and bleeding profusely from his head. The defendant’s violent actions, which led directly to the victim’s death, has no place in a civilized society. Under the circumstances, the sentence imposed was more than warranted.”

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Ruben Hoffman, 19, of 37-83 Street in Jackson Heights, Queens. The defendant pleaded guilty on March 3, 2005 to Manslaughter in the First Degree and was sentenced yesterday by Queens Acting Supreme Court Justice Dorothy Chin-Brandt.

The District Attorney said that in admitting his guilt, the defendant acknowledged that on the evening of May 22, 2004 at 70th Street and Northern Boulevard, he struck Fernando Rodriguez, of Jackson Heights, numerous times with an aluminum bat, causing various wounds and injuries. The victim, who was taken to a local Queens hospital and treated for blunt head trauma after the incident, slipped into a coma and died on May 31, 2004, as a direct result of the injuries that he sustained in the attack.

District Attorney Brown added that Francis Calle, 18, of 32-66 81st Street in Queens, who participated in the attack, pled guilty to Manslaughter in the First Degree on April 11, 2005, and was sentenced on May 19, 2005 to 15 years in prison. Two other defendants were sentenced to one to three years in state prison for their participation in the attack.

Assistant District Attorney John Kosinski of District Attorney Brown’s Homicide Trials Bureau prosecuted the cases under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Jack Warsawsky, Deputy Bureau 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.