A Long Island man on Jan. 6 was sentenced to 22 years to life in prison for shooting his wife during a dispute at a Jamaica hotel in 2020.
Malcolm White, 44, of Kirkman Avenue in Elmont, was convicted by a jury in July of attempted murder following a two-week trial for shooting his 34-year-old spouse during a fit of rage at the Hillside Hotel on Queens Boulevard, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
According to the complaint, on March 27, 2020, emergency medical technicians and police were called to the Hillside Hotel where White was in one of the guest rooms with his wife and warned responders, “If you come in here, I’ll blow her head off.” Police later found the victim in the hotel lobby, naked, with a gunshot wound to her arm and several bone fractures to her face. Police attempted to gain entry to the defendant’s hotel room by kicking in the dead-bolted door. Inside, police found blood in various places around the room.
Investigators later recovered a fired bullet from the room’s bathtub and two cell phones — one concealed under the mattress and another in the toilet.
The defendant was discovered naked behind the hotel. Police also recovered an unloaded revolver near the back of the hotel.
White was found guilty of attempted murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky, who presided over the two-week trial.
“I believe that the sentence imposed today provides at least some measure of peace to the victim as she continues to recover,” Katz said. “I urge victims of domestic violence who need safety planning services, or help in securing an order of protection or shelter placement, to call us or contact a Family Justice Center immediately.”
The Queens Family Justice Center is located at 126-02 82nd Ave. in Kew Gardens and the office can be reached at 718-575-4500. The center accepts walk-ins and provides criminal justice, civil legal, and social services for victims of domestic violence, elder abuse, and sex trafficking.
Justice Yavinsky sentenced White to 22 years to life in prison.
