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Albany resident Allah-Son-Allah was sentenced to 20 years in state prison for his killing of 32-year-old Michael Jones on Christmas Eve 1995 while they were both incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office announced on Thursday, Oct. 10.
According to the DA's Office, at around 8 p.m. on Dec. 24, 1995, Allah-Son-Allah used a buck knife to stab Jones in the chest, puncturing his heart and causing him to bleed to death inside the correctional facility.
The initial investigation into Jones' death began in 1995 and was resumed in 2019 by the New York State Police and DA's Office, which determined that Allah-Son-Allah and Jones were both members of the Five-Percent Nation, a Nation of Islam breakaway group established in the 1960s also known by the name "Nation of Gods."
Members of the group voted the day before Jones' death to attack him after he violated their beliefs by wearing a cross, officials said.
As part of the resumed investigation into the death, police and the DA's Office Cold Case and Homicide bureaus traveled to several states to interview witnesses who had been incarcerated at Sing Sing at the time.
Allah-Son-Allah was eventually arrested on May 16, 2023. He was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter on Monday, May 20, and acquitted of second-degree murder.
In addition to his sentence, he will also be required to serve five years of supervised release.
Additionally, his 60-year-old co-defendant Steven Smith of Salisbury, North Carolina, was also at Sing Sing with Jones in 1995 and involved in the incident. He was arrested on May 11, 2023, and now awaits his own sentencing after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter on Monday, April 15.
Westchester DA Miriam Rocah commented on the solved case, saying, "Thanks to the tenacity of the investigators and prosecutors dedicated to solving this cold case, we were able to secure convictions that finally hold accountable those responsible for the Christmas Eve death of Michael Jones at Sing Sing nearly 30 years ago."
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