BROOKLYN MAN CONVICTED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER OF QUEENSBRIDGE HOUSES RESIDENT

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the conviction of a Brooklyn resident for the attempted murder and robbery of a Queensbridge Houses resident outside his building in Astoria.

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Derek Miller, 30, of 2940 West 21st Street, Brooklyn. He was convicted of attempted murder in the second degree; robbery in the first and second degrees; criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third degrees; criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree after a four week jury trial before Supreme Court Justice Roberta L. Dunlop. He will be sentenced on November 9th and faces a minimum of 20 years to life in prison as a persistent violent felony offender.

According to trial testimony, the defendant and an accomplice, Jamal Jackson, 20, of 580 Stanley Avenue, Brooklyn, who pleaded guilty previously, and will be sentenced on October 29 for the same charges, approached the victim at approximately 2:56 A.M. on July 28, 1997 as the victim was standing outside his residence in the Queensbridge Houses development. The two defendants drove up in a car, jumped out and pinned the victim up against another parked car, taking $500 in cash and several pieces of gold jewelry from him. The defendant Jackson held a gun to the victim and told him that if he moved, he (Jackson) would "buck" him (kill him). At one point Jackson was distracted and the victim tried to run. Jackson began shooting, grazing the victim in the leg. The victim made it to the corner where he was met by two police officers on patrol who had heard the shots and chased the defendants. The defendant Miller, who now had the gun, tossed it into a garbage can where it was later recovered. When arrested, the defendant Miller had the jewelry in his possession and the cash was found on the defendant Jackson.

Assistant District Attorney Robin D. Leopold of the District Attorney's Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau under the supervision of Charles A. Testagrossa, Bureau Chief and the overall supervision of James Clark Quinn, Executive Assistant District Attorney, prosecuted the case.