Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Nazieer Basir, 22, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the deadly shooting of a 22-year-old man in Ozone Park, Queens in December 2020.

District Attorney Katz said, “This case is as appalling as it is completely senseless. In pleading guilty, the defendant took responsibility for killing an accomplice during a botched attack meant for a group of rivals. The gun violence in our communities has to stop. The defendant is now being held accountable and faces a lengthy prison term for his criminal actions.”

Basir, of 106^th Street in Jamaica, Queens, pleaded guilty yesterday before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky to manslaughter in the first degree. Justice Yavinsky indicated that he would sentence the defendant to 17 years in prison followed by 5 years of post release supervision on November 17, 2022.

According to the charges, just before 10 p.m. on December 7, 2020, Basir and three others, including the victim, 22-year-old Royhessny Sintjago, attempted to attack a group of rivals sitting in a parked car near the intersection of 90^th Street and Liberty Avenue. The car pulled away and Sintjago chased on foot, armed with a tire jack. Basir fired two shots at the car and one struck Sintjago in the head, killing him.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Zawistowski of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Peter J. McCormack III and John Kosinski, Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and Assistant District Attorneys Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.