Judge rejects request for a new trial (video).
Frankie Hester was sentenced today in Onondaga County Court for the fatal drive-by shooting of Cole Richardson. Syracuse, NY -- The man convicted of second-degree murder in the drive-by shooting of Cole Richardson was sentenced this morning to serve 25 years to life in prison.
Onondaga County Judge Anthony F. Aloi imposed the sentence on Frankie Hester, 28, of Syracuse, after he rejected a motion by Hester's attorney, Michael Spano, for a new trial.
A jury found Hester guilty of murder and gun possession and co-defendant Jamar Martin guilty of hindering prosecution on Sept. 23.
Spano filed papers Friday alleging that he had learned two days earlier from a juror that another juror had said during deliberations that she was familiar with the lighting on Atlantic Avenue. That was where Richardson was shot on Oct. 2, 2008.
The juror's statement to her colleagues represented misconduct and should be sufficient to warrant a hearing and new trial, Spano argued.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Robert Duncanson told the court that the law allows jurors to use their life experience while sifting evidence. The juror did not visit the crime scene, perform experiments or do any of the other things that the law considers misconduct, Duncanson said.
Aloi agreed, saying there was plenty of testimony from witnesses about the lighting. Spano offered no sworn statements aside from his own to support his motion, the judge added.
Hester said nothing before Aloi imposed the sentence. He also received a 15-year sentence plus five years of post-release supervision for a second-degree criminal possession of a weapon charge for which he also was found guilty. The sentences will be served concurrently.
Aloi sentenced Martin, 35, of DeWitt, to serve 1 1/3 to four years in prison for second-degree hindering prosecution. Martin was driving the car from which Hester fired on Richardson, the jury found on Sept. 23.
"You got the wrong person," Martin told Aloi.
