FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Man Sentenced to 17 Years to Life in Prison
For the 2003 Murder of His Pregnant Girlfriend
A Gun Used by Defendant in a 2012 Burglary Attempt
Was Matched to a Shell Casing from the Open Homicide Case
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a 42-year-old man was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison for killing his girlfriend, who was nine months pregnant when he shot her in the head inside her Flatlands home back in 2003.
District Attorney Thompson said, “A woman was violently murdered and the daughter she carried was robbed of a chance at life. Today’s sentence ensures that the person responsible for this horrific crime is held accountable and spares the family from reliving this terrible tragedy during a trial.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Jefferson Jones, 42, who is currently serving a prison sentence at Five Points Correctional Facility. He was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Neil Firetog to 17 years to life in prison, following his guilty plea to one count of second-degree murder that was entered on May 28, 2015.
The District Attorney said that, according to the indictment, on June 28, 2003, at about midnight, the defendant shot Lamethia McCollum, 28, twice in the head inside her apartment at 1394 East 48th Street in Flatlands, Brooklyn. The body of the victim was discovered by her then 8-year-old daughter.
District Attorney Thompson said that on February 27, 2012, the defendant and an accomplice were spotted by a homeowner in the backyard of 176-10 145th Drive in Springfield Gardens, Queens. Police was called and Jones was arrested with a 9-mm Glock handgun and charged with attempted burglary. Forensic analysis determined that a single spent shell casing that was recovered at the scene of the 2003 homicide matched the defendant’s gun.
Jones was sentenced in September 2012 to three and a half years in prison for first-degree attempted burglary in connection with the Queens case. He will finish serving that term in August 27, 2015, and will then begin serving his sentence for the murder.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Michelle Kaminsky, Chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau.
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