FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Homeless Man Sentenced to 25 Years to Life in Prison
For Fatally Shooting Man During Robbery on Brownsville Street Corner
Victim Had Received Threatening Text Messages from Defendant’s Phone
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 49-year-old homeless man was sentenced yesterday to 25 years to life in prison for fatally shooting an acquaintance during a robbery on a Brownsville street corner.
Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant threatened the victim, then robbed and shot him to death on a street corner. This sentence ensures that he’s being held fully accountable for his brazen and needless act of violence.”
The Acting District Attorney identified the defendant as Keith Brannon, 49, of Brownsville, Brooklyn. He was sentenced yesterday to 25 years to life in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Neil Firetog. The defendant was convicted of first-degree murder following a jury trial in December.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on August 8, 2015, at approximately 8:40 p.m., at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Sackman Street in Brownsville, the defendant fatally shot the victim, Christopher Tennison, 32, in the chest, while robbing him at gunpoint.
According to the investigation, a cell phone recovered from the victim at the crime scene contained threatening text messages traced to a phone in the defendant’s possession, which he later admitted to owning for several months. Following the defendant’s arrest, a gun was recovered in the room of a homeless shelter where he lived. The gun tested positive as the murder weapon.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Bernarda Villalona, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Queenie Paniagua, of the District Attorney’s Trial Bureau, Green Zone, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub, Homicide Bureau Chief.
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