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Between August 2018 and March 2019, Rocah said that gang members conspired to silence a witness who set to testify against them in regards to a shooting outside the Garden Bar & Grill in Mount Vernon in 2016.
Those involved in the conspiracy:
- Jason Garcia, age 38, of Mount Vernon;
- Matthew Brown, age 37, of Wilmington, Delaware;
- Cassaundra Dunham, age 45, of Yonkers;
- Laquanna Kershaw, age 34, of Ossining;
- Damien Rickard, age 44, of Yonkers.
At the time of the shooting, Garcia and Brown were being held at Westchester County Jail awaiting trial on charges connected with the shooting, where the eyewitness was scheduled to testify at trial.
Rickard was the last to be sentenced as a discretionary persistent felony offender convicted of second-degree conspiracy and criminal possession of a weapon.
He was sentenced to a term of 18 years to life in prison.
Rocah said that the other four were previously convicted on these charges:
- Garcia was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on charges that include attempted murder, conspiracy, criminal possession of a weapon, and promoting prison contraband, which will run consecutive to his 20 years to life term for the Garden Bar shooting;
- Brown pleaded guilty to second-degree conspiracy and was sentenced as a predicate felony offender to a term of between 10 to 20 years in state prison, which is running concurrently to the 20-year sentence he received for the Garden Bar shooting;
- Kershaw pleaded guilty to second-degree conspiracy and was sentenced to a term between seven and 21 years in state prison;
- Dunham was sentenced to a term of 7.5 years in state prison after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon and four to 12 years after pleading guilty to second-degree conspiracy.
“Protecting witnesses and their safety is absolutely critical to a well-functioning justice system,” Rocah said in a statement. “This case demonstrates how law enforcement works together to protect witnesses and ensure their safety.
“I commend the members of my Office and the Department of Corrections for their vigilance in preventing a murder and a travesty of justice,” she continued. I also want to thank our other law enforcement partners for their assistance on this very important case.”
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