Murder Indictment in 20-Year-Old Shooting
A man already serving a possible life prison term now faces new charges stemming from the recent death of a man he shot two decades ago.
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Two men were shot during a dispute inside a Jefferson Avenue mini-mart nearly 20 years ago. One died, but one survived.
Now, the man convicted of shooting them faces new charges.
Ziad Yousef is already serving 20 years to life in state prison for the murder of Tracy McFadden and the shooting of Aaron Watkins. It happened during an argument over a bottle of beer in September of 1993 at Jericho's Minimart on Jefferson Avenue.
Watkins was shot in the spine. He survived the shooting but eventually died, in January of 2011.
The indictment comes out the District Attorney's Office stance that the injuries suffered in the shooting eventually killed him.
"Obviously, there is no statute of limitations on a homicide charge, and even in cases where the facts were previously litigated, there are certain carve-outs and exceptions in the criminal procedure law that allow you to move forward on a homicide charge subsequently," said prosecutor Kevin Fitzgerald.
"Obviously, you're going to have issues with witnesses remembering what happened, being available. I think that's going to come up in the testimony of the witnesses involved," said defense attorney Michael Schiano, discussing some of the challenges that may come in this 20-year-old case.
Side note: Yousef is eligible for parole in a few months. He has a hearing scheduled for May. He pleaded not guilty to the latest murder charge, and will be back in court in April.