In
SDNY 24 Year Old Pleads to 33
Years For Murder For Drug Turf
as Mother of Decedent Cries
and Screams
By Matthew
Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
February 15 –
On East
104th Street
in Manhattan
last
April 24,
multiple gunshots
to the chest
killed
17-year old
Samuel Ozuna.
A week later,
24-year old Gary
Turner was
arrested and
charged. When
Turner
on February
15 changed
his plea to
guilty in the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern District of
New York, Azuna's
family members
sat on one
side of the courtroom.
On the other,
separted
by security
officers, were
supporters of
Turner. In the
back, the only
media in the room,
was Inner City
Press.
SDNY
Judge Jesse
M. Furman
asked Turner
the extent of
his schooling
- 9th
grade - and
then to explain
in his own
words what he
had done.
Turner read a
statement full
of legal terms
of art ("I
shot him,
resulting in
his death")
and a woman
on Ozuna
started to
cry. Judge
Furman told Turner
to speak
directly in
the the
microphone,
and slower.
Turner said he
did the
shooting to
protect drug
territory.
The crying
on Ozuna's
side got
louder.
Judge Furman
explained that
the plea agreement
meant that Turner
was waiving
his right to
appeal any sentence
less than 405
months, that
is, 33 years.
(Turner
had faced the
death
penalty). There was
some
discussion of
whether
Turner's
allocution was
sufficient,
since he
refused to say
he had committed the
murder to
improve or
maintain his
position in an
organization. These
crews are
looser, his
lawyer said. Judge
Furman agreed,
and the
proceeding was
adjourned.
The marshals asked
those on
Turner's side
of the courtroom to
leave first.
As they did,
and Turner was
led out in
shackles, from
Ozuna's side a
women screamed, "You
piece of
sh*t!" This
did not make
it into the
U.S.
Attorney's
Office press
release. There was more
crying, and on
the way down
some said the
gun could have
been pointed
the other way.
But this is what
happened.
As if
in on a
different planet but
in the same
city and
courthouse, art
gallery owner
Mary Boone after
pleading guilty
to tax fraud was
sentenced on
February 14 to
30 months in
prison to be
followed by a
year of
supervised
release with 180
hours of
community
service.
Judge Alvin K.
Hellerstein of the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
said that tax fraud is a crime
that can and must be deterred.
His sentence provided for 90
hours of community service
with the non-profit Free Arts
NYC or one like it, and 90
hours of service to New York
City Board of Education
beginning, he said, in June
2021.
Unlike two recent
Judge Hellerstein sentencees,
Norman
Seabrook and Murray
Huberfeld, Boone through
her lawyer Robert S. Fink did
not announce an appeal and ask
for bail pending appeal. On
Worth Street outside the SDNY
courthouse, Inner City Press
asked Boone what she thought
of the community service
requirement. She did not
answer, swarmed by
photographers as she awaited
the white luxury car she drove
off in. Periscope video
here.
Her tax
fraud involved
mis-characterizing as
deductible business expenses
such things as Louis Vuitton
and Hermes charges of nearly
$20,000, beauty salon bills of
$24,380, and $15,000 in
jewelry. Fink said this came
from mental problems, feeling
like the world was ending. He
emphasized that Boone has been
dropped by Chase Bank and the
Century Club and even by her
therapist, who felt that
reporting on her from the
pre-sentencing report made
other clients doubt she could
keep their
confidences. Judge
Hellerstein told Fink he
personally fought to keep such
PSRs confidential but that
other judges who prioritized
transparency won out. He
emerged after hearing Boone's
written statement which
pleaded to be kept out to jail
to continue her work with his
sentence, including the
community service. Fink
requested the Women's Camp in
Danbury, Connecticut. Boone is
to turn herself in, on May 15
before 2 pm. Whether as some
surmise there will be a
whistleblower payment is not
known...
***
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