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Christmas Eve Slayer Jailed

Knifed Man In Queensbridge

A prison cell will be a Long Island City teenager’s home for the next 13 years after being sentenced last Wednesday, Apr. 10, for fatally stabbing a 29-year-old man on Christmas Eve 2009, prosecutors announced.

Cyan Brown, 19, of 12th Street was sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice Gregory L. Lasak last Wednesday after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Feb. 25.

Brown admitted to knifing Thomas Winston, 29, near the 21st Street-Queensbridge subway station on Dec. 24, 2009 after a dispute that broke out between the victim and her friends.

“While [Brown] has now been held accountable for her criminal actions, the holidays, regrettably, will now forever be a painful reminder for the victim’s family of the loss they suffered at her hands,” Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said in a statement last Wednesday. “Hopefully, they can take some consolation in the fact that justice has been served.”

Reportedly, the bloodshed occurred at around 9 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2009 outside a fast food restaurant in the vicinity of 41st Avenue and 21st Street.

Prosecutors said Winston was standing on the street drinking a beverage when Cyan Brown, accompanied by a group of her friends, walked by. One of the defendant’s friends reportedly bumped into Winston, who then became involved in a dispute with the friend.

Law enforcement sources said the argument turned violent after Winston splashed beer on Cyan Brown, who then pulled out a knife and stabbed him the chest. She then fled into the 21st Street-Queensbridge subway station.

Members of the 114th Precinct and EMS units responded to the incident. Winston was rushed to Cornell Medical Center, where he later died of his injuries, which included a puncture wound to his heart.

Cyan Brown reportedly went into hiding for several days before appearing at the 114th Precinct stationhouse in Astoria on Dec. 29, 2009. She was charged with Winston’s death following questioning by the 114th Precinct Detective Squad.

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