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Slayed Him on Christmas Eve

She Admits To Queensbridge Killing

A Queensbridge woman faces more than a dozen years in prison after admitting in court last week to fatally stabbing a man during an argument on the night before Christmas in 2009, law enforcement sources announced.

Cyan Brown, 20, of 12th Street entered a guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter during an appearance in Queens Criminal Court last Monday, Feb. 25, before Queens Supreme Court Justice Gregory L. Lasak.

Upon accepting Brown’s plea, Lasak ordered her to return to court on Apr. 10 and indicated that he would likely sentence her to serve 13 years in prison, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.

In pleading guilty, Cyan Brown admitted to killing Thomas Winston, 29, at around 9 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2009 as a result of dispute which broke out outside a fast food restaurant near the 21st Street-Queensbridge F train station in the vicinity of 41st Avenue and 21st Street.

Law enforcement said that Winston was standing on the street when Cyan Brown and a group of friends walked by.

As they did so, authorities said, one of the defendant’s friends bumped into the victim, leading to a verbal exchange between Winston and the friend.

Reportedly, the argument turned ugly when Winston splashed beer on Cyan Brown. Seconds later, authori- ties said, she stabbed Winston in the chest, then fled into the 21st Street- Queensbridge subway station.

Officers from the 114th Precinct and EMS units responded to the scene. Winston was rushed to Cornell Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival; reportedly, his heart had been pierced.

As previously reported, Cyan Brown went into hiding for several days after the stabbing, then appeared at the 114th Precinct’s Astoria stationhouse on Dec. 29, 2009. Following questioning by the 114th Precinct Detective Squad, she was charged with Winston’s death.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Shawn Clark of the D.A.’s Homicide Trials Bureau, which is supervised by Assistant District Attorneys Brad A. Leventhal, bureau chief, and Jack Warsawsky, deputy bureau chief.