JAMAICA — A Jamaica man was sentenced to 37 years to life in prison for the August 2006 drive-by shooting murder and attempted murder of two other local men, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
According to Brown, Yahya Abdul-Aleem, 32, had been on the run for more than two years and was featured on “America’s Most Wanted” before being apprehended in West Virginia during a police stop for speeding.
“The crimes of which the defendant has been convicted were senseless and vicious and perpetrated by an individual who chose a weapon over words,” Brown said. “I hope that the surviving victim and the deceased’s family can find some measure of solace in the sentence — ironically, occurring on the day that the deceased would have celebrated his 37th birthday — and in the knowledge that the defendant will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars as punishment for his actions.”
Brown said Abdul-Aleem and a friend had gotten into a physical altercation Aug. 6 with Stanley Pierre-Paul and Donald Niles, two 31-year-old men they knew from the neighborhood.
The DA said Abdul-Aleem fired four rounds at the men as they sat inside a vehicle, with three rounds hitting the driver’s-side door where Niles sat. The fourth round struck near the passenger window on the driver’s side and hit Pierre-Paul in the head and killed him, Brown said.
Abdul-Aleem, who was held without bail since his arrest in April 2009, was convicted last month of second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder, second- and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth C. Holder sentenced him Monday to 25 years to life on the murder charge and a consecutive term of 12 years in prison on the attempted murder charge.
