Press Release
ASTORIA RESIDENT SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IN PRISON FOR STRAY BULLET SLAY OF NYCHA WORKER IN 2020
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jerald Bethea has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty last month to manslaughter in the first degree. The defendant killed a 25-year-old NYCHA employee who was working on the grounds of the Astoria Houses when he was hit by a stray bullet fired by Bethea in April 2020.
District Attorney Katz said: “In broad daylight — in a neighborhood filled with children and families –this defendant fired nine shots. He was trying to shoot someone he had a dispute with. He missed that intended target and instead struck and killed Darrian Ramdial of Mount Vernon. This was senseless gun violence that took the life of a hard-working Navy veteran.”
Bethea, 24, of 27th Avenue in Astoria, pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter in the first degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise yesterday sentenced the defendant to 20 years in prison, to be followed by five years post-release supervision.
According to the charges, on April 9, 2020, at approximately 3 p.m., Darrian Ramdial was working on the grounds of the Astoria Houses near 3-20 27th Avenue. At the same time, Bethea was embroiled in a dispute with roughly four other men in the lobby of the building at that address. The defendant followed the group of men as they exited the building and pulled out a pistol. He fired nine times toward one of the men. None of the bullets hit his intended target, but instead a single shot struck Ramdial in his torso.
The victim was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for the gunshot wound, but he died six days later.
Bethea fled the area but was apprehended in October 2020 by members of the New York City Police Department’s Felony Warrant Squad.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Timothy Shortt of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney of Major Crimes Shawn Clark.