PRESS RELEASE
FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT, DISTRICT ATTORNEY
DATE: APRIL 10, 2015
The
Appellate Division, Third Department has unanimously affirmed the August 24,
2012 conviction of Jarrin Rankin, a/k/a Phat Boy, upon a jury verdict
convicting him of the crimes of criminal possession of a weapon in the second
degree, two counts, a class C violent felony, and criminal possession of a
weapon in the third degree, one count, a class D felony.
These
charges stem from an incident which occurred on Henry Street in the City of
Kingston on November 21, 2009. That
morning, defendant and Curtis Williams, a/k/a Black, engaged in a shootout
during which Williams suffered a gunshot wound to the face. Charles King, Jr. and his half-brother, Lee
Gray, spoke with both Williams and Rankin prior to the shoot out and witnessed
same. Twenty one year old C. J. King
gave a statement to the police two days later and positively identified the
defendant as the individual who possessed the handgun on the day in question
and fired at Curtis Williams. King later
testified before an Ulster County Grand Jury in January, 2010 and three weeks
later was shot and killed by defendant’s brother, Trevor Mattis. Mattis and
three other members of the Sex, Money, Murder gang have been convicted of
Murder and/or Conspiracy to Commit Murder.
Before
his trial on the instant charges, defendant was convicted of Conspiracy in the
second degree for his role in Kings’ murder and was sentenced in County Court,
as a prior violent felony offender, to 12 ½ to 25 years in prison, which
conviction was affirmed by the Appellate Division, Third Department in 2014. Following
his conviction and sentencing on the Murder/Conspiracy charge Rankin was tried
and convicted on these weapons charges and was sentenced by County Court Judge
Donald A. Williams
to
an aggregate term of 15 years with five years of postrelease supervision.
On
this appeal, defendant argued that County Court erred in allowing the People to
introduce C. J. King’s Grand Jury testimony on its direct case and improperly
denied his motion to suppress his oral statements to the police. The Appellate Division, Third Department, however,
rejected each of defendant’s claims.
Importantly, the Appellate Division found that since defendant, with the
help of his henchmen had caused C. J. King’s death and thus prevented him from
testifying at defendant’s trial, County Court properly allowed the People to
read C. J. King’s Grand Jury testimony into the record at trial.
On
appeal, the defendant is represented by George P. Ferro, Esq. of Albany, New
York. Assistant District Attorney Joan
Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.
