Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Troy Thomas, 36, has been found guilty at trial of murder. The defendant shot and killed a 20-year-old man outside a house party in December 2011.

District Attorney Katz said, “The defendant was on the run for approximately eight years before being brought back to Queens to face justice. Yesterday, following 2 ½ hours of deliberations a jury found the defendant guilty of committing this senseless slaying. The family of the victim was denied justice for more than a decade. Today, they can put this sad chapter behind them knowing the defendant will be punished for taking the life of their loved one.”

Troy Thomas, 36, formerly of 156^th Street in Jamaica, Queens, was found guilty yesterday of murder in the second degree following a nearly week-long trial. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky, who presided at trial, set sentencing for June 17, 2022. At that time, the defendant faces up to 25 years-to-life in prison.

According to trial testimony, the defendant became involved in a petty dispute with Keith Frank at a house party in South Richmond Hill, Queens. The 20-year-old victim was just blocks from his home when Thomas shot him in the chest. The young man, who’d just become a father eight months earlier, was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died from the single gunshot wound. The defendant immediately fled New York City, but was found living in Guyana, where he fought extradition but was eventually returned to Queens to face the murder charge.

Assistant District Attorney George J. DeLuca-Farrugia, Director of the Queens District Attorney’s Extraditions, Renditions and Property Release Services, handled the extradition with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Department of State.

Assistant District Attorney George J. Deluca-Farrugia and Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Bettis prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack III and John Kosinski, Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs of Homicide, Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders and Executive Assistant District Attorney for Felony Trials Pishoy Yacoub.