THIRD DEFENDANT FOUND GUILTY IN MURDER OF HOLLIS MOBIL GAS STATION ATTENDANT; FACES LIFE IMPRISONMENT

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that the third defendant in the murder/attempted robbery case of a Hollis Mobil gas station attendant has been found guilty of murder in the second degree after a three week jury trial before Supreme Court Justice Robert Hanophy.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Khary Eaton, 20, of 111-25 180th Street, St. Albans. The defendant was found guilty of murder in the second degree, several counts of attempted robbery in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third degrees. He will be sentenced on September 14 and faces 25 years to life in prison.

According to trial testimony, the three defendants, who had been close friends for years, decided to rob the Mobil gas station located at 196 Street and Hillside Avenue in Hollis, on the 7th of February in 1997. At around 4:00 P.M., using Khary Eaton's car as the getaway vehicle, the three defendants parked around the corner from the station, with Eaton remaining in the car while Edson Altimo, 20 years old and Guspari Bernardin also 20 years of age entered the station.

In the process of the robbery, Bernardin shot the attendant, Prakash Rooplall in the stomach, causing his death. Bernardin and Eaton then fled from the scene without getting any money. As they made their getaway in Eaton's automobile, a tow-truck driver who witnessed the botched robbery followed them and recorded the license plate number which he gave to the police. Approximately 30 minutes later, Eaton was arrested outside his parent's home. Later the same day Bernardin also was arrested at his residence; Altimo surrendered to the police. Bernardin, who has pled guilty to murder in the second degree will be sentenced on August 26 and faces 18 years to life in prison. Altimo pled guilty to attempted robbery in the first degree and to two other unrelated robberies in the first degree and faces 10 to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on September 9.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Mark Osnowitz of the Queens District Attorney's Homicide Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Daniel A. Saunders and the overall supervision of Executive District Attorney for Major Crimes, Gregory L. Lasak, prosecuted the case.