FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2005

D.A. BROWN: BROOKLYN TEENAGER CHARGED IN STABBING DEATH OF FLUSHING MAN OUTSIDE ASTORIA NIGHTCLUB
Faces 25 Years to Life in Prison

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that an unemployed teenager from the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn has been charged with murdering a Queens man following a dispute outside the Clic nightclub in Astoria last July.

District Attorney Brown said, “According to the charges, the defendant – a 19-year-old unemployed male – intentionally and with depraved indifference to human life caused the death of a 20-year-old man. The crime is one more shocking example of mindless violence that takes innocent lives and recklessly endangers public safety.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Jonathan W. Andujar, 19, of 541 Wythe Avenue in Brooklyn, who has been charged with two counts of Murder in the Second Degree and one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree. The defendant faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

District Attorney Brown said that it is alleged in a criminal complaint filed by his office that, on Saturday, July 9, 2005, at 4:50 a.m. in front of 35-20 30th Avenue in Astoria, Queens, Andujar stabbed Jimmy Zisimopoulos, 20, in the abdomen – fatally wounding him. The incident allegedly occurred after the defendant had left the Clic nightclub, located at 32-04 Broadway.

District Attorney Brown said that Andujar was apprehended yesterday by NYPD Detective David J. Beutel of the 114th Precinct and arraigned last night before Queens Criminal Court Judge Stephen Knopf who remanded the defendant without bail and set a return date of September 29, 2005.

Assistant District Attorney Travis W. Hunter of the District Attorney’s Homicide Investigations Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Peter T. Reese, Bureau Chief, and Peter J. McCormack III, 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.

It should be noted that criminal charges are merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.