PRESS RELEASE
FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT
DATE: MARCH 15, 2018
The Appellate Division, Third Department has unanimously affirmed the November 13, 2015 conviction of Basheem Bennett upon his plea of guilty of the crime of murder in the second degree.
Defendant’s conviction stems from a shooting which occurred in Murphy’s Bar in New Paltz, New York on April 20, 2014. Early that morning, defendant shot and killed 29 year old Ryan Gray and seriously injured Ida Samantha David, Gray’s fiancée and mother of his child. According to witnesses, when defendant entered the bar and spotted the victim, he fired three 9mm shots, two of which struck the victim in the neck and chest. The third bullet struck Ida David in the chest. The motive for the crime was retaliation by Bennett against Gray for the murder of a friend of Bennett’s six months earlier in the City of Poughkeepsie.
Pursuant to a plea agreement, defendant agreed to testify at the trial of anyone else involved in the shooting in exchange for an 18 year to life sentence. However, when Bennett was called to testify against Taquon Webb, a codefendant, he invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege, refusing to testify, thus violating his agreement. Thereafter, Bennett was sentenced by County Court Judge Donald Williams to 25 years to life in prison. Webb was found not guilty after a jury trial.
On appeal, while defendant claimed that his sentence was unduly harsh and severe, that claim was precluded by his valid waiver of appeal.
On appeal, defendant is represented by Marshall Nadan, Esq. of Kingston, New York. Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.