A Jamaica man was found guilty of stabbing a man to death at an Ozone Park club in 2017, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Kenneth Shaw, 38, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter following a two-week trial.
“The defendant in this case turned an evening in a bar into mayhem and bloodshed,” said Acting Queens District Attorney John M. Ryan. “A man is dead over a petty dispute and the defendant has now been found guilty of taking a life. After careful deliberation, the jury found him guilty and the defendant will face a lengthy term of punishment for this senseless act of violence.”
According to trial testimony, at 12:55 a.m. on July 13, 2017, Shaw was inside Cookie’s Lounge, located on Cross Bay Boulevard in Ozone Park, when he touched a woman’s tattoo. The woman’s friend, 55-year-old John Savillo, took offense and pushed Shaw, leading to a physical altercation between the men.
Savillo was stabbed twice in the torso as a result, suffering a lacerated liver. He was rushed to a local hospital with internal bleeding, and ultimately died of his injuries 13 hours later.
Shaw is due to return to court for sentencing on Dec. 2, where he faces five to 25 years in prison.
