Kenny Guido
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Man gets 20-to-30 for shooting of gang activist
BY ANN GIVENS
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April 27, 2007, 10:36 PM EDT
Saying it's not his job to forgive criminals, a Nassau County Court judge Friday sentenced a Roosevelt man to 20 to 30 years in prison for killing anti-gang activist Hykiem Coney.
"Mr. Cason, you say you pray to Hykiem every day for his forgiveness. Maybe he forgives you. But that ain't my job," Judge Jerald Carter told Tyrel Cason before imposing the sentence. "My job is to make sure you never injure another member of this community."
The sentence calls for Cason, 24, to serve consecutive sentences for second-degree manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon. He could serve as much jail time as he would have if he had been convicted instead of acquitted of second-degree murder at trial.
Coney had been the leader of the Outlaws street gang in Hempstead until turning his life around in 2004, "two years and nine days," before his death, according to Bishop J. Raymond Mackey of the Tabernacle of Joy Church in Uniondale, whom Coney had credited with helping him escape gang life. Coney worked for Mackey at the Uniondale-based Help End Violence Now Coalition and often spoke to teens about the dangers of gangs.
"This is a young man who was determined to redirect his life," said Mackey, holding up a wallet-sized photo of Coney that he carries with him everywhere. "The people in this courtroom represent just a small segment of the lives he touched."
Cason fired a gun into the crowd gathered outside Images bar in Uniondale on Oct. 21, striking Coney, 24, twice in the head and back.
Cason's attorney, Brian Carmody of Westbury, conceded at trial that Cason had fired the gun, but said that he fired into the air to scare the crowd, and the gun "got away from him."
"He is truly sorry for this killing," Carmody told Coney's family in court, as Cason stood at his side, his head bowed. "He does not ask for your forgiveness because he knows you cannot give it to him."
Carter said he is tired of sending young men away to prison. But he said he feels no regrets this time.
"Mr. Coney is dead," he said. "I don't know where his life would have taken him. Know why? Because Mr. Cason killed him."
BY ANN GIVENS
[email protected]
April 27, 2007, 10:36 PM EDT
Saying it's not his job to forgive criminals, a Nassau County Court judge Friday sentenced a Roosevelt man to 20 to 30 years in prison for killing anti-gang activist Hykiem Coney.
"Mr. Cason, you say you pray to Hykiem every day for his forgiveness. Maybe he forgives you. But that ain't my job," Judge Jerald Carter told Tyrel Cason before imposing the sentence. "My job is to make sure you never injure another member of this community."
The sentence calls for Cason, 24, to serve consecutive sentences for second-degree manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon. He could serve as much jail time as he would have if he had been convicted instead of acquitted of second-degree murder at trial.
Coney had been the leader of the Outlaws street gang in Hempstead until turning his life around in 2004, "two years and nine days," before his death, according to Bishop J. Raymond Mackey of the Tabernacle of Joy Church in Uniondale, whom Coney had credited with helping him escape gang life. Coney worked for Mackey at the Uniondale-based Help End Violence Now Coalition and often spoke to teens about the dangers of gangs.
"This is a young man who was determined to redirect his life," said Mackey, holding up a wallet-sized photo of Coney that he carries with him everywhere. "The people in this courtroom represent just a small segment of the lives he touched."
Cason fired a gun into the crowd gathered outside Images bar in Uniondale on Oct. 21, striking Coney, 24, twice in the head and back.
Cason's attorney, Brian Carmody of Westbury, conceded at trial that Cason had fired the gun, but said that he fired into the air to scare the crowd, and the gun "got away from him."
"He is truly sorry for this killing," Carmody told Coney's family in court, as Cason stood at his side, his head bowed. "He does not ask for your forgiveness because he knows you cannot give it to him."
Carter said he is tired of sending young men away to prison. But he said he feels no regrets this time.
"Mr. Coney is dead," he said. "I don't know where his life would have taken him. Know why? Because Mr. Cason killed him."