FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, November 17, 2017
Brooklyn Man Sentenced to 25 Years to Life in Prison
For Bedford-Stuyvesant Murder
Victim Was Shot Twice, Second Time at Close Range
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 37-year-old Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for a fatal shooting after an argument in Bedford-Stuyvesant in April 2010.
Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “The outcome of this retrial puts an end to a horrific ordeal for Orlando Colon’s family. With today’s sentencing, the defendant has been held accountable for his actions.”
The Acting District Attorney identified the defendant as Alshawn Holiday, 37, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today to 25 years to life in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Dineen Riviezzo. The defendant was convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon following a jury trial in August. He was convicted of the same charges during the first trial in July 2011. That conviction was reversed on appeal.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on April 13, 2010, shortly after midnight, the defendant began an argument with Orlando Colon’s friend near the intersection of Malcolm X Boulevard and Bainbridge Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Colon, 24, also from Bedford-Stuyvesant, ran towards the defendant and punched him in the head. The defendant then grabbed a gun from Lynwood Williams, 46, and chased after Colon while firing along Malcom X Boulevard.
The Acting District Attorney said that, in additional trial testimony, the defendant shot Colon in the back of the head, and a second time after finding the victim face down on the street. The second round traveled through Colon’s heart, lung, stomach, spleen and finally rested in his esophagus.
The Acting District Attorney said the shooting was observed by three eyewitnesses and captured on video surveillance near Chauncey Street. Williams pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and was sentenced to six years in prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Andres Palacio, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Timothy Gough, Bureau Chief.
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