By Ivan Pereira
A pair of Far Rockaway convicts already serving lengthy prison sentences for killing a police officer in 2007 were back in court last week to face charges that they used the same murder weapon to wound a bystander in Jamaica a day before they took aim at the patrolman, the Queens district attorney said.
Dexter Bostic and Robert Ellis, both 37, appeared in court handcuffed and in front of a large force of police officers Oct. 27 for their indictment on several charges, including attempted murder, in the July 8, 2007, shooting of Carl Field.
Bostic is serving a life sentence on a murder charge and Ellis is serving a 15-year sentence after being found guilty of criminal possession of a weapon in the killing of Officer Russel Timoshenko, who was shot during a car stop in Brooklyn a day after they allegedly wounded Field.
“The defendants are accused of senselessly but deliberately shooting their victim before robbing him of cash and personal effects. This case is just one more glaring example of mindless gun-related violence that recklessly puts people’s lives at risk,” DA Richard Brown said.
Field, 23, was standing at the corner of Sutphin Boulevard and 109th Drive that night when the suspects drove up in a Porsche Cayene and Bostic got out of the car wielding a .45-caliber handgun and began shooting, the DA said. Field was struck in the leg and Bostic allegedly came up to the victim and demanded money, according to the DA.
Field complied and handed over $1,800 in cash, a chain and keys to his vehicle, the DA said. Bostic and Ellis allegedly fled in their car, according to Brown.
A day later, Timoshenko and his partner, Officer Herman Yan, stopped the men at a corner in Brooklyn, but Bostic used the same gun and shot both officers, the DA said. Yan survived the attack.
The two were arrested weeks later and convicted of the killing last year. If found guilty on the new charges, Bostic faces 25 more years to life in prison while Ellis could be sentenced up to 25 more years in prison, Brown said.
“We will make sure that justice is served not only in the case where they killed Police Officer Timoshenko, but everything that led up to it, every citizen that got shot by these animals,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch told reporters outside the court house.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
