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Damon Scott has been sentenced to a term of 20 years to life in prison after he was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of a Yonkers man in 2008 following a cold case investigation.
Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino, Jr., announced that a jury returned the guilty verdict shortly after noon on Wednesday, Oct. 10.
A Lincoln Town Car taxi pulled up in front of the Mexico Car Service on South Broadway in Yonkers at approximately 4:50 a.m. on June 16, 2008. The cab was intended for Jerome Hancock, who was waiting for it in the area.
Scott proceeded to shoot Hancock from the front passenger side window, striking him in his chest, killing him, before the vehicle drove off.
At the time of the murder, Scott was a driver for Yonkers Union Taxi. Witnesses called the Yonkers Police Department, and officers responded, launching an extensive investigation into the shooting.
Scarpino said that following the shooting, Scott, formerly of Yonkers, fled to Georgia in an attempt to elude police.
For the better part of a decade, he remained a fugitive there, living under various aliases, unknown to investigators in Westchester. In 2013, the Yonkers Police Department’s Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation.
Last year, Scott was apprehended in Alpharetta, Georga for an unrelated matter. Further investigation into Scott’s identity found that he was wanted in Yonkers, and police were notified. An arrest warrant was issued and Scott was extradited to Westchester to face the murder charge.
Before Judge George Fufidio passed sentence, the victim’s wife, Jessica Hancock told the court and Scott of the impact her husband’s death had on her family. She spoke of being the mother of five young children at the time of Hancock’s death. ”I have had to raise five children on my own. Jerome was a father like no other.”
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