Conviction and Sentencing of Keith Boyle

November 16, 1999

FOREST HILLS RESIDENT, A MOTORMAN ON THE "F" TRAIN, SENTENCED TO 15 1/6-33 YEARS IN DEATH OF TENANT WHOSE BODY HE BURIED UPSTATE

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the conviction and sentencing of a 32 year old Forest Hills man, an MTA motorman on the "F" subway line, for killing his tenant in the two-family house in which they both resided in March of 1997. The defendant shot the man several times after a dispute and then dumped his body in an upstate marsh.

District Attorney Brown said that the defendant, Keith Boyle, 32, of 71-44 Nansen Street, 2^nd Floor, Forest Hills, was charged with the murder of Bassam (Sam) Hasan, 31, a computer consultant, who lived in the first floor apartment of the Nansen Street home with his wife and child. The defendant was found guilty of manslaughter after a bench trial before Supreme Court Justice Randall Eng who sentenced the defendant to 15 1/6-33 years today.

District Attorney Brown said, "This senseless slaying was compounded by the defendant's shocking attempt to cover up the crime by disposing of his victim's body in an upstate marsh."

According to the trial testimony, at midmorning on March 6^th, 1997, the defendant went downstairs to Mr. Hasan's apartment to look into a plumbing problem. The two men got into a heated argument. Mr. Hasan told the defendant to leave and pushed him, whereupon the defendant pulled out a .32 mm automatic handgun and shot Mr. Hasan to death. The defendant retrieved the shell casings that were scattered on the floor, carried the dead man to his car and drove upstate to Sullivan County. He tossed the shell casings and gun out as he drove to a marsh in Liberty, New York, where he left the body. Police investigating possible violence at the Forest Hills address were outside the house when the defendant pulled into his driveway at about 7:00 p.m. that night. The deceased's body was found on March 7^th by New York State Troopers and Detective Herbert Shedrick and Sergeant Terrence J. Moore of the 112^th Precinct.

Assistant District Attorney David Guy of District Attorney Brown's Homicide Trials Bureau, headed by Assistant District Attorney Daniel J. Saunders and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney Gregory L. Lasak prosecuted the case.