By Alex Robinson
A retired cop has been found guilty of murdering his wife inside their Briarwood apartment, the borough’s top prosecutor announced last week.
Clarence Cash, 52, shot his 42-year-old wife, Tracy Young, 13 times in the head and torso after the two engaged in a heated argument in December 2011, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
“The defendant had spent his life working in law enforcement and knew well the destructive power of firearms,” Brown said. “Yet by his actions, he displayed a total disregard for human life and irreparably shattered his own family by robbing them of a loved one.”
One of the attorneys representing Cash declined to comment other than to say they are planning on appealing Cash’s conviction.
On the night of Young’s murder, neighbors said they had heard arguing and then a loud noise as the shots were fired.
Cash fled after the shooting, but ultimately turned himself in to police at a Manhattan precinct the next morning with two loaded hand guns in his possession, the DA said. The retired cop, who had worked in the 32nd Precinct in Harlem, had been a per diem federal court officer at the time of his arrest.
Several neighbors reacted with shock at the news of Young’s murder as they had never seen the couple fight and Cash seemed like a caring husband.
Before she died, Young worked as a tax enforcement agent who investigated illegal cigarette sales for the state Department of Taxation and Finance.
Cash was convicted of second-degree murder after a three-week jury trial and could face 25 years to life in prison, the DA said.
He was set to be sentenced Oct. 21.
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
