PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release on January 12, 2007 Contact: William J. Smith (718) 556-7150
William.Smith@rcda.nyc.gov

D.A. Donovan: Brooklyn Man Receives 40 to Life Sentence for 2002 Shooting of Deli Clerk, 2004 Armed Robbery
*** Jonah Alston, 23, Sentenced on Murder, Armed Robbery Charges***

STATEN ISLAND, NY - Richmond County District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. today announced that State Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Rooney has sentenced a Brooklyn man to 40 years to life in prison for his December 2006 conviction on charges of 2nd Degree Murder, Robbery in the 2nd Degree and Attempted Robbery in the 1st Degree, as well a May 2004 armed robbery for which he was convicted in August 2006 on charges of felony robbery.

Justice Rooney sentenced Jonah Alston, 23, of Alabama Avenue, Brooklyn, for his role in the January 22, 2002 robbery of the Azzal Deli & Grocery, 1804 Richmond Terrace, during which Hamoud Thabid, 32, was fatally shot. Alston was convicted on an indictment which alleged that he accompanied Ollman Lopez, 22, of DeGroot Place, Staten Island, during the robbery, which resulted in the victim being fatally shot by Lopez with a .380 caliber handgun. Alston was sentenced to terms of 25 years to life in prison for the murder and 15 years for each of the two additional charges. Those prison terms will run concurrently. Lopez is currently on-trial in State Supreme Court on murder, robbery and weapons possession charges for that incident. His trial resumes Tuesday, January 12, 2007.

In August 2006, Alston was convicted on a felony robbery charge for a May 2004 armed robbery of the same delicatessen as the fatal shooting, then operating under the name Fresh Deli. He was acquitted at trial of four other robberies, two each at a West Brighton tavern and a Richmond County Savings Bank branch. Justice Rooney sentenced the defendant to a term of 15 years in prison for this conviction. This sentence will be served consecutive to the sentence for the 2002 indictment.

District Attorney Donovan stated, “Jonah Alston’s reign of terror in our community has come to an end with this sentence. His flagrant disregard for human life has earned him this prison term which will hopefully keep him in prison for the rest of his life.”

The case against Alston was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Mark Palladino of the Investigations Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Raja Rajeswari of the Supreme Court Bureau; under the supervision of Mario F. Mattei, Chief of the Investigations Bureau and Paul A. Capofari, Chief of the Supreme Court Bureau. The defendant is represented by Mario F. Gallucci, Esq.

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