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Long Island residents Dwayne Henderson, age 26, and Danny Harrell, age 21, both of Nassau County, were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in Schenectady County Court on Monday, Aug. 14, following convictions for attempted murder and kidnapping.
A third defendant, another Nassau County resident, Dieago Harrell, age 19, of Hempstead, was given 10 years behind bars after being convicted of reduced counts of kidnapping.
According to prosecutors, the three men kidnapped the victim outside his Schenectady home on Monday, Oct. 25, 2021 after concluding that he had stolen a large bag of drugs that he was supposed to deliver to Danny Harrell.
They took him to a home on Albany Street, where they kept him for over 22 hours, repeatedly beating and stomping the man in order to elicit a confession. Throughout the beatings, the victim maintained that he had delivered the drugs as instructed.
Later that night, a good Samaritan on Long Island called police after seeing a video of the attack posted on Snapchat. Investigators contacted the social media company and determined that Danny Harrell had taken the video.
Police then reached out to Harrell’s friends, who told detectives that he often went to the home on Albany Street. Officers finally entered the house at around 9:45 p.m. on the day after the kidnapping and found the victim suffering from multiple serious injuries.
According to prosecutors, the victim was taken to Albany Medical Center with a severe head fracture, a broken sternum, and dog bites all over his body. He also had elevated levels of creatine, indicating severe muscle trauma, and was treated for infection.
Snapchat video obtained by police shows Danny Harrell encouraging the dog to bite the man, at one point yelling, “Tear him girl” as the victim rolls around on the ground in agony and begs for it to stop.
Henderson is seen kicking the victim and beating him with a large pipe. He then stomps the man’s head repeatedly until the victim’s body goes limp, seemingly unconscious.
Captions placed over the video say the dog latched onto the victim followed by several laughing emojis.
Another video posted 10 hours after the abduction shows the victim lying naked in the fetal position and covered in blood with several large gaping wounds on his left arm.
Danny Harrell is heard praising the dog and asking, “Do you want to bite him?” He also messaged friends saying he planned to shoot the victim.
Inside the home, detectives found a pistol under a mattress, along with nearly 30 grams of crack cocaine. They also recovered the victim’s driver’s license, bank cards, and vehicle registration and title to his truck.
In May 2023, jurors convicted Henderson and Danny Harrell of attempted murder, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, and assault, all felonies. Henderson was also convicted of criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Dieago was found guilty of two counts of second-degree kidnapping, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal possession of a firearm. Jurors acquitted him of two counts of first-degree kidnapping.
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