FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Sheepshead Bay Man Sentenced to 22 Years to Life in Prison
For Fatally Stabbing Professor in Prospect Park South Home
Defendant Gained Entry and Attacked Homeowner, Then Found Hiding in Closet
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 22 to years to life in prison for the murder of a New School professor in the basement of the victim’s house in Prospect Park South.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant broke into the victim’s home and when confronted, senselessly stabbed him to death. Hopefully, today’s sentence brings a measure of solace to his heartbroken family. The defendant has now been held accountable for his actions.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Mirzo Atadzhanov, 32, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to 22 years to life in prison. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on November 4, 2021.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on May 7, 2018, just before 6 p.m., the victim’s wife placed a 911 call and, when police responded, officers discovered the victim, 66-year-old Jeremy Safran, in the basement of his Prospect Park South home. The victim was stabbed twice in the chest and three times in the stomach. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Prior to being attacked he had been working out in the basement.
The defendant, who broke into the basement and stabbed the victim, was discovered hiding in a closet in the basement. The knife used in the stabbing was subsequently recovered from the trunk of the defendant’s car, according to the evidence.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Ernest Chin, Deputy Bureau Chief of the District Attorney’s Grey Zone Trial Bureau (formerly of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau).
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.