FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 31, 2023
Defendant Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Attempted Murder of Former Girlfriend, who was Beaten, Stabbed and Left for Dead
Defendant Located in California and was Returned to Brooklyn Five Years After Attack
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a former Brooklyn resident was sentenced to 17 years in prison for beating his former girlfriend over several hours, repeatedly stabbing her, and slashing her throat. He fled from New York following the 2016 attack, was arrested in California in 2021 and convicted at trial last month.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This was a life altering assault that the victim survived because of her will to live for her children. She showed tremendous courage by coming to court and testifying against her abuser and detailing the many physical and emotional traumas she suffers to this day. I also commend our prosecutors for their commitment to bringing the defendant to justice.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Jun Zhang, 59, formerly of Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice E. Niki Warin to 17 years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision. The defendant was convicted of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon on February 1, 2023, following a jury trial. The judge also issued a 30-year full order of protection.
The District Attorney said that, according to the evidence, the victim, a 49-year-old woman, and the defendant, her ex-boyfriend, managed Relax Spa, a massage parlor located at 5911 7th Avenue, in Sunset Park, at the time of the incident.
Furthermore, according to the evidence, on August 23, 2016, at approximately 4 a.m., inside of Relax Spa, the defendant accused the victim of cheating on him, pushed her onto a couch, pulled her hair, picked up a knife, threatened her and prevented her from leaving.
The abuse continued over several hours, according to the evidence, with the defendant eventually throwing the victim to the floor, punching her in the face, stomping on her body, stabbing her in the chest, and slicing her throat multiple times with a knife. He then dragged her into a massage room and left her on the floor. When he eventually returned, he placed his fingers under the victim’s nose, but she held her breath and pretended to be dead.
When the defendant finally left the massage parlor, according to the evidence, the victim managed to make it out on to the street, where she collapsed. Two calls were made to 911, indicating that a woman covered in blood was sitting on some stairs on a sidewalk. Emergency medical technicians responded, and she was rushed to the hospital where she was intubated and remained for a month. She was treated for brain bleeding, a liver laceration, collapsed lungs, deep lacerations to her neck and puncture wounds to her chest. A doctor testified at trial that she had lost 30 to 40 percent of her blood.
The defendant fled New York, but on May 10, 2021 he was arrested in connection with a shooting in California. That case was not prosecuted because the victim did not cooperate. His fingerprints, however, triggered the New York warrant for his arrest and he was extradited to Brooklyn to stand trial.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Shaun Prunotto, of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Amanda Fisher, Deputy DV Bureau Chief, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Michele Guo, also of the DV Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kori Medow, Bureau Chief.
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