FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Brooklyn Woman Sentenced to 20 Years to Life in Prison for Striking and Killing Senior Citizen While Trying to Run Over Man With SUV
Defendant Convicted of Murder Last Month Following a Jury Trial
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a woman has been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for striking and killing a 70-year-old woman with her SUV after she deliberately drove up onto the sidewalk and attempted to run over a male pedestrian.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “Today’s sentence holds this defendant accountable for her shocking and depraved actions that cost an innocent woman her life. While nothing can bring Brenda Ann Whidbee back to her family and friends, I hope this sentence offers them some sense of solace.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Layla Adredini, 33, of Stuyvesant Heights, Brooklyn. She was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Michael Kitsis to 20 years to life in prison. The defendant was convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder on May 23, 2024, following a jury trial.
The District Attorney said that, according to the evidence, on August 24, 2021, at approximately 9:20 p.m., the defendant was driving her 2003 white Ford Explorer in the vicinity of 2185 Pacific Street in Ocean Hill when she deliberately drove up on the sidewalk in an attempt to hit a 50-year-old male acquaintance. The defendant missed her intended target, and instead crashed into Brenda Ann Whidbee, 70, who was seated in a chair outside her home.
Furthermore, according to the evidence, the defendant attempted to flee the scene on foot before being stopped by neighborhood residents.
This week, the Virtual Currency Unit, pursuant to a court order, seized a network of 70 linked scam domains, all associated with the investment scam targeting Russian victims in Brooklyn and elsewhere. It identified over 20 Brooklyn victims from Brighton Beach, Borough Park, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, Ocean Parkway, Manhattan Beach, Kensington, and other neighborhoods. There were three additional victims from Manhattan. The victims ranged in age from 35 to 75 with the majority older than 50. They reported individual loss amounts ranging from $18,000 to over $117,000. In total, the New York victims lost over $1 million.
Whidbee, a grandmother and a fixture of her community for over 40 years, suffered severe injuries. She was taken to Brookdale Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Daphney Gachette, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, and Senior Assistant District Attorney Gianna Del Grippo, of the District Attorney’s Green Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Leila Rosini, Homicide Bureau Chief.
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