Shooter Eluded Justice For 2+ Years
A Queens man who had evaded justice for nearly three years has been sentenced to 37 years to life in prison for the August 2006 drive-by shooting murder and attempted murder of two men in Jamaica.
The defendant was identified by Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown as Yahya Abdul-Aleem, 32, of Jamaica. Abdul-Aleem has been held without bail since his arrest in April 2009 after being stopped in West Virginia for a traffic infraction.
He was convicted last month of second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder, second- and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and reckless endangerment before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth C. Holder, who sentenced Abdul-Aleem last Monday, Apr. 30, to 25 years to life on the murder charge and a consecutive term of 12 years in prison on the attempted murder charge.
“The crimes of which [Abdul- Aleem] has been convicted were senseless and vicious and perpetrated by an individual who chose a weapon over words,” Brown said. “I hope that the surviving victim and the deceased’s family can find some measure of solace in the sentence-ironically, occurring on the day that the deceased would have celebrated his 37th birthday-and in the knowledge that the defendant will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars as punishment for his actions.”
According to trial testimony, Abdul-Aleem and a friend had gotten into a physical altercation on the afternoon of Aug. 6, 2006, with two men they knew from the neighborhood- Stanley Pierre-Paul, 31, and another man, also 31 years of age.
Shortly thereafter, Abdul-Aleem drove a light-colored rented SUV by a vehicle parked at the intersection of Remington Road and Lakewood Avenue. Pierre-Paul was sitting in the front passenger seat and the other 31- year-old man was sitting in the driver’s seat.
Abdul-Aleem fired four rounds at the vehicle. Three of the rounds struck the driver’s door; a fourth round struck the rear passenger window on the driver’s side and then hit Pierre-Paul in the head, causing his death.
Police said Abdul-Aleem fled the scene and drove the rental vehicle to West Virginia where he eventually abandoned it. Brown said that although the Abdul-Aleem case had been profiled on the television show America’s Most Wanted, Abdul- Aleem was arrested in Morgantown, West Virginia, in October 2008 when the Dodge Charger he was driving was pulled over for speeding.
When Abdul-Aleem could not produce a valid driver’s license or any other form of identification, he was taken into custody and fingerprinted. The FBI fingerprint check revealed that he was wanted for murder in New York. Abdul-Aleem ultimately waived extradition and was returned to New York.
Assistant District Attorney Karen L. Ross of the District Attorney’s Homicide Trials Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Brad A. Leventhal, bureau chief, and Jack Warsawsky, deputy bureau chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.
