A Westchester County man who beat a social employee to dying after she knocked on the fallacious door was convicted Wednesday of homicide, manslaughter and different crimes.
Hasseem Jenkins, a 32-year-old Peekskill resident, was discovered responsible of killing 56-year-old Maria Coto exterior his residence constructing.
“As proved throughout a multi-week trial, Hasseem Jenkins beat her till the nerves in her mind stem have been severed past restore, hurling repeated epithets as she lay dying on the ground,” Westchester County District Lawyer Susan Cacace mentioned in a press release.
Coto was making a house go to to an residence on Might 14, 2024, in Peekskill when she by chance knocked on Jenkins’ door as a substitute of her shopper’s, in keeping with investigators. Jenkins walked out and instantly punched her within the face, chased her right into a neighboring residence and stomped her with heavy boots.
All through the lethal beating, Jenkins screamed and cursed at Coto. His phrases have been recorded on a 911 name that Coto made after the preliminary punch.
At trial, Jenkins’ attorneys argued that he by chance ingested PCP earlier within the day and subsequently shouldn’t be convicted of homicide as a result of he had no intent to kill.
Nonetheless, the jury agreed with the prosecutors, who centered on the horrific nature of Coto’s accidents and Jenkins’ aggression as recorded on the 911 name. Jenkins was convicted of second-degree homicide, first-degree manslaughter, theft, housebreaking and weapons possession.
“Maria devoted her transient time on Earth to serving to others,” Cacace mentioned. “She was a petite girl with an uncommonly beneficiant spirit. She’s going to stay on in all of the lives she touched alongside the best way.”
