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Westbury resident Spencer Jean was sentenced this week to 35 years in prison for Hobbs Act robbery of a marijuana trafficker, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and obstruction of justice for a shooting two years ago.
Jean, 34, was found guilty following a trial in July last year.
Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said that on March 20, 2018, in Middle Island, Jean robbed $1,500 worth of marijuana from a drug dealer he had met at a halfway house following his 2008 conviction for committing a series of nine armed robberies in Nassau and Suffolk.
Jean was sentenced to 10 years in prison following his previous conviction.
During the robbery, Jean shot the drug dealer in the leg at close range with a 9mm Glock handgun loaded with hollow-point bullets.
The shooting victim was placed on life support due to loss of blood and hospitalized for one month, but survived his injuries.
DuCharme said that after his arrest, Jean instructed a former girlfriend to provide an alibi for him by lying to police investigators and falsely testifying at trial that he was at a nursing home in Medford at the time of the shooting.
“The defendant demonstrated disregard for the life of his victim and no respect for the rule of law, even after having served a lengthy prison sentence,” DuCharme said. “It is thus appropriate and just that he now will be incapacitated in prison for more than three decades.”
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