Archive for 'News' Category
Sep 8, 2003

Newsday.comBy Herbert Lowe A sobbing former correction officer begged for forgiveness from his 7-year-old daughter yesterday before a Queens judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting the girl’s mother. But prior to Van Griffin and Justice Evelyn Braun having their say in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens, the daughter had […]

Jul 31, 2003

By Scott Shifrel A former city correction officer who shot an ex-lover to death in a quarrel over child support was convicted of manslaughter – and he could be sprung from prison in less than five years. Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Braun”s decision outraged the family of victim Felicia Cosby. ‘Its like it was nothing, […]

Jul 30, 2003

By Eric Lenkowitz The family of a woman shot to death by her correction-officer husband reacted with tears and outrage yesterday after the 38-year-old killer was convicted in a Queens Court of the lightest charge he faced – one that could get him as little as five years in jail. ‘It should have been murder,’ […]

Jul 29, 2003

By Scott Shifrel Keith Cosby watched in court as lawyers talked about the five bullets that ended his daughter’s life and what her last words were, and showed him a video of his son-in-law confessing. That was last week. Today, he awaits the judge’s decision on whether or not the son-in-law, Van Griffin, is sentenced […]

Jul 17, 2003

By Herbert Lowe A former correction officer’s depression after a serious motorcycle accident ultimately led to his fatally shooting the mother of one of his three children over child support, defense witnesses testified yesterday in Queens. Van Griffin, 38, spent 11 days in a coma after the 1996 accident that killed a woman who was […]

Jan 10, 2003

NewsdayBy Rocco Parascandola A Queens Catholic school administrator was arrested yesterday for allegedly groping his wife’s 13 year old goddaughter, police said. Jorge Diez, 41 was charged with sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly fondling the girl inside his Jamaica Estate home Monday. Diez is the religious education administrator at […]

Aug 2, 2002

By Denise Buffa – Staff Writer A cop insisted yesterday he wasn’t driving drunk when he struck and killed a Brooklyn motorcyclist more than a month ago – but prosecutors say they’ll use a controversial field sobriety test to prove his guilt in court. Victor Wilson, a 12-year veteran, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Brooklyn […]

Aug 1, 2002

By Nancie L. Katz – STAFF WRITER An off-duty cop accused of plowing into a Brooklyn motorcyclist while driving drunk pleaded not guilty yesterday to manslaughter charges. If convicted in the death of Stefanos Kiladitis, Officer Victor Wilson, 43, could face up to seven years in prison. Wilson, of Staten Island, was leaving a Bay […]

Feb 8, 2002

By Herbert Lowe STAFF WRITER Bail was set at $750,000 yesterday for a man accused of the 1999 beating death of Long Island City community activist Armando Perez. Shaguye Colbert was arraigned on second-degree murder charges in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens, in a case in which similar charges were dismissed last year against four […]

Sep 11, 2001

By Robert E. KesslerSTAFF WRITERTUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 A federal prosecutor began a second trial yesterday against a Queens man charged with defrauding his late wife out of her share of the couple’s $1.2 million in assets. Ali Bessaha, 65, of 43-20 40 th St. in Long Island City, is accused in U.S. District Court in Manhattan […]

May 19, 2001

By Robert E. KesslerSTAFF WRITER A mistrial was ordered Friday in the fraud case of Long Island City man after a juror acknowledged reading a newspaper story that discussed one fact that the judge had barred jurors from knowing: that the man also had been charged with murdering his wife. U.S. District Court Judge Leonard […]

Nov 8, 2000

November 8, 2000By Sean Gardiner When Correction Officer Van Griffen went into a coma four years ago after a horrific motorcycle crash, it was his pregnant girlfriend, Felicia Cosby, who helped nurse him back to health. Monday night, it was Griffen who allegedly shot and killed Cosby, the mother of his 4-year-old daughter, in a […]

Jul 12, 2000

By Robert E. Kessler – STAFF WRITERNEWSDAY The very bad news recently for [Defendant], a Long Island City millionaire, was that a federal judge ruled that he had murdered his wife in Hicksville in 1999. The good news at the same time for [Defendant] was that the judge also decided that the jury hearing the […]

Mar 7, 2000

 NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION This pamphlet, which is based on New York law, is intended to inform, not to advise. No one should attempt to interpret or apply any law without the aid of an attorney. Produced by the New York State Bar Association Committee on Public Relations. Do I need a lawyer? I […]

Mar 11, 1999

By Robert E. Kessler. STAFF WRITER A Long Island City man who was charged with defrauding his estranged wife before she was found murdered in January in her Hicksville home was named as “the prime suspect” in her murder yesterday by a federal prosecutor. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Brown said that [Defendant], 62, of 43-20 […]