NEW YORK, NY – Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Vernon Jeffers, 44, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder. The defendant shot the victim in her home in January 2019.
District Attorney Katz said, “This defendant was sentenced for using a deadly firearm to twice shoot his then-girlfriend in the chest while she was helpless in bed. Luckily, she survived but continues to deal with the burden of her physical and psychological injuries.”
Jeffers, of Seagirt Boulevard in Far Rockaway, Queens, pleaded guilty on November 9, 2021, to attempted murder before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky. Yesterday, Justice Yavinsky sentenced the defendant to 18 years in prison, to be followed by five years’ post release supervision.
District Attorney Katz said, according to the Court records, shortly after 2 a.m. on January 19, 2019, the defendant entered the 117th Street apartment of the 48-year-old victim, shot her twice while she was in bed, and fled the scene. The woman was able to call 911 and report that she had been shot by her boyfriend. The defendant was apprehended three days later.
Continuing, the DA said, the victim required surgery to treat her injuries, which included a lacerated liver. A bullet remains lodged near her spine.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Camillo, of the DA’s Domestic Violence Bureau, prosecuted the case, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Afroza Yeasmin, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Kenneth Appelbaum, Acting Bureau Chief, Audra Beerman, Deputy Chief, Mary Kate Quinn, Assistant Deputy Chief, Howard McCallum, Supervisor, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel Saunders.