FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 21, 2015
Defendant Indicted For Assaulting Court Officers Following Guilty Verdict
Allegedly Head Butted One, Punched Another Following Conviction at Trial
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a 19-year-old Brooklyn man was arraigned on a six-count indictment in which he is charged with second-degree assault and other charges for allegedly attacking two court officers in a Brooklyn courthouse after a jury found him guilty of assaulting a man during a 2013 attempted robbery.
District Attorney Thompson said, “Contempt for the rule of law will not be tolerated here in Brooklyn. This defendant was allegedly out of control in the courthouse and has now compounded his problems with another felony indictment.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Dante Newman, 19, of East Flatbush, Brooklyn. He is named in a six-count indictment in which he is charged with four counts of second-degree assault and two counts of third-degree assault. The defendant was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice William Miller. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison on each of the top two counts.
Earlier today, the defendant was sentenced to 40 years in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice following his June 25, 2015 conviction on first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and other charges. The defendant’s brother, Treyvon Newman, 20, who was convicted in that same case, was also sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on June 25, 2015, Dante Newman and his brother, Treyvon Newman, were convicted of first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and other charges following a jury trial in connection with an incident on March 16, 2013, in which they tried to rob a 27-year-old man after he was lured to a building in the 67th precinct.
When the victim arrived at the building, according to trial testimony, he spotted the defendants and fled. The defendants gave chase and Dante Newman fired a shotgun, striking the victim in the arm. The defendants were arrested shortly thereafter in North Carolina.
The District Attorney said that, after the verdict in their trial was read in open court and they were both found guilty, Dante Newman allegedly assaulted two court officers after being removed from the courtroom. He allegedly butted one officer in the head and, later, punched a second officer. Both officers were treated at New York University Langone Cobble Hill and released.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Natalie Pagano of the District Attorney’s Blue Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Fran S. Weiner, Bureau Chief. The underlying assault case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sabeeha Madni, formerly of the Blue Zone.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.