A Long Island woman was sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison for fatally striking a cyclist while high on prescription drugs. But before the sentence was officially handed down, a sobbing Nicole Shellard had this to say about victim Kathryn Underdown, "You are my angel. I took your life, Kathryn, and you saved mine." more ›

The cost of peddling pills out of an ice cream truck? Three and a half years. That's how long Staten Islander Louis Scala, Jr., was sentenced to today for his role in drug dealership that operated out of a Lickety Split truck in Richmond County. more ›

An 18-year-old who was convicted of repeatedly stabbing her 16-year-old cousin and then stealing her sneakers and other belongings was sentenced to 15-years-to-life in prison yesterday. Tiana Browne was 15 when she stabbed Shannon Braithwaite 49 times with a kitchen knife. Browne's aunt, Marva Braithwaite, had taken Browne in and said in court, "She rewarded me by leaving me childless, reaping out my very being. When you sit behind bars, you can never say you weren't loved. Shannon loved you. I loved you." more ›

He was a drug dealer who killed a lot of people, but a Jamaican druglord also gave back to his community! more ›

Danielle Chiesi, a former beauty queen who became a hedge fund trader, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for her role in a multi-million-dollar insider trading scheme. Chiesi, who once said insider trading was "like an orgasm," will also have to serve two years of supervised release and 250 hours of community service, plus pay a $25,000 fine. It was under the recommended 37-to-47-month sentence from prosecutors, so maybe that's why she was smiling outside court. more ›

Yesterday, a judge sentenced three men involved in a horrific rape and robbery to over 150 years in prison. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei was so troubled by the crimes, which included the rape of three women—a woman, her 17-year-old daughter and a teenage family friend—that he said to the man who was convicted of the rapes, Glendon Jackson, "Somebody wrote a book, Dante Alighieri, where he ranked the crimes and this has to be one of the worst crimes and you have to be one of the worst offenders," and sentenced him to 260 years. more ›

After a judge sentenced him to 90 years to life in prison, the man convicting of killing a former boss Co-op City leaped from his chair. Paulino Valenzuela was also screaming, "Please let me go!" but five to seven court officers jumped on top of him. more ›

Yesterday, a mother confronted the man who admitted to grabbing her 23-year-old daughter off a Queens street and beating and raping her with a metal pipe, then leaving her for dead in an alley. Guihua Yu, who traveled from China, shouted and sobbed, "You beast! Give me back my daughter! .... Yao was our sun, our hope, our dreams, our future and our strength... You have destroyed our lives. I wish a life of hell for you." more ›

The Long Island man who was convicted of killing a teenager in a racially-charged 2006 incident had his sentence commuted by Gov. Paterson today. John White, 56, had served only seven months of his two-to-four year prison sentence for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Daniel Cicciaro Jr. when Paterson released him from prison. "While the incident and Mr. White's trial engendered much controversy and comment, and varying assessments of justice were perceived, its most common feature was heartbreak. My decision today may be an affront to some and a joy to others, but my objective is only to seek to ameliorate the profound suffering that occurred as a result of this tragic event," Paterson said today. more ›

Here's a lesson to anyone thinking about setting off a crude explosive device: Even if no one is injured, the Manhattan DA's office wants you to know you're going to prison. Nineteen-year-old Kyle Shaw, who at age 17 set off an explosive outside an Upper East Side Starbucks in May 2009, was officially sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison as part of a plea deal. Manhattan assistant DA Christopher Ryan said, "Any one considering setting off a bomb in New York City should know they will be caught. You will be pursued by the best detectives in the world, and you will be found, and you will be brought to justice." more ›

Yesterday, it was reported that admitted rapist Tony Simmons, a former Manhattan court juvenile counselor, had been given an insane plea deal and is expected to receive ten years probation and no jail time at sentencing next week. One of his victims, identified only by her first name Ashley, is understandably incredulous at the meager sentence—and she's making the rounds today, telling her story to the media. more ›

Today, Carmen Huertas was sentenced to four to 12 years for a drunk driving crash that killed an 11-year-old girl. The father of victim Leandra Rosado, whose death resulted in a new law that makes it a felony to drive while intoxicated with a passenger 15 years or younger in the car, told the judge, "My daughter is looking down at us right now... Don't let her death be in vain. I promised always to protect my daughter and I feel I failed her... Don't let us down." more ›

Yesterday, Sparkle Daniel was sentenced to 25 to life for the murder of a 91-year-old woman in 2003. Prosecutors say Daniel and another woman forced wine down Nellie Hocutt's throat before stuffing cloth in her mouth and suffocating her with a plastic bag. Horcutt was also tied to a chair with tape and a telephone cord, and Daniel and her accomplice stole a gold chain and some towels. Horcutt's granddaughter said, "Sparkle, I hope you spend the rest of your life thinking about our grandma." more ›

While for a short time it seemed as though Steven Slater's ceremonious exit from his flight attendant position at JetBlue would give him folk hero status, it turns out his path emergency chute less traveled only landed him in court. It was back in August that Slater told off a passenger over the aircraft's intercom, then upon landing at JFK grabbed two beers, activated the emergency chute, and slid away from his troubles... or so it seemed. more ›

The over three year long saga behind Kirsten Dunst's stolen Balenciaga bag is finally coming to an end! In 2007 the actress was staying at the SoHo Grand hotel during the filming of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, when the bag and some other items went missing. James Jimenez and Jarrod Beinerman were pinned for the crime, and Beinerman has been paying the price behind bars, while Jimenez was only sentenced this week, after years of courtroom drama. more ›

Two men who killed an Ecuadorean immigrant on a Brooklyn street in December 2008 were each sentenced today. Prosecutors had said that Keith Phoenix and Hakim Scott brutally beat Jose Sucuzhanay because they thought he was gay (Sucuzhanay was walking arm-in-arm with his brother) and yelled anti-Hispanic and anti-gay epithets during the attack. Phoenix got 37 years to life (25 years for murder as a hate crime, plus 12 years for attempted assault as a hate crime), while Scott received 37 years (25 years for manslaughter and 12 years for attempted assault). more ›

Earlier this week, a judge sentenced activist lawyer Lynne Stewart to an additional ten years in prison. In 2006, Stewart was sentenced to four years (considered too low by critics) for smuggling messages from a radical leader to his followers in Egypt, but more recently an Appeals Court had suggested she receive more prison time. Judge John Koetl noted on Thursday that Stewart's remarks about her 28-month sentence—specifically how she "could do [28 months] standing on my head"—plus finding that she perjured herself during the trial showed the original sentence wasn't sufficient. more ›

The Irish national who killed his ex-girlfriend, an NYPD lab tech, last year was sentenced to 29 to 37 years in prison. Gary McGurk, who pleaded guilty to murdering Michelle Lee last month, apologized to her family in court. According to the Daily News, he said, "I hope that in the years to come God will help you through this. Michelle is safe with him now. I don't ask for forgiveness because I don't deserve it..." more ›

Last August, 15-year-old Joseph Marino died after being struck by a drunk driver in Hampton Bays. Now the driver, Caroline Goss, who was found with an open container of alcohol in the car as well as her 6-year-old son, is reportedly close to making a deal with prosecutors to serve a six month sentence. A lawyer for Marino's family called the deal a "joke." more ›

A former Queens resident and Brooklyn College student was sentenced to 15 years for sending "waterproof socks, ponchos and sleeping bags to al Qaeda insurgents in Afghanistan." Syed "Fahad" Hashmi, 30, was originally arrested in 2006 in London and then extradited to America, where he decided to plead guilty rather than face a possible 70 year sentence. more ›

Jeffrey Conroy, the Long Island teen who was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime for fatally stabbing an Ecuadorean immigrant in 2008, was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday. His father raged at the at the sentence, running out of the courtroom and yelling, "He was f---ing 17. This is mercy for crying out loud? Jesus, f---ing, Christ! Jesus Christ!" more ›

Former Giants wide receiver Mark Ingram had 27 months tacked onto his 92 month jail sentence yesterday after jumping bail to watch his football star son play in the Sugar Bowl. Ingram—who was sentenced in 2008 on charges of money laundering and bank fraud—had already been granted one extension to go see Mark Jr. finish his freshman season at the University of Alabama, so when he asked for a second reprieve, he was denied. But on the date the 44-year-old was supposed to surrender himself, he was a no-show; on game day officials found him in his underwear, stationed in front of a TV screen in a Michigan motel room. more ›

David Price is going to serve at least 6 years in prison—30 years after his conviction on rape charges. Price, 54, went on the run in 1980 while he and another man were facing trial for putting a gun to a prostitute's head and raping her. But after three decades on the lam, authorities arrested the Price when he walked into a Manhattan courthouse to see if his criminal record was still on file, according to the Daily News. more ›

The off-duty Jersey City cop who killed a woman and injured her boyfriend while driving drunk has been sentenced to 3.5 to 10.5 years in prison. "There's not a day that goes by that I wish I could trade my life for the victim's," said Martin Abreu, 26. "Everyday I live this. I'm going to live it for the rest of my life." more ›

The Queens man who “bought” a homeless teen and pimped her out on Craigslist was handed a sentence of 25 years to life yesterday. "You are a con man of the first order," Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise told David Brown. "I'm going to do my best to insure that you never see the light of day again." Brown took naked pictures of the 19-year-old, who’s been described as “vulnerable,” and posted them on the web classifieds. His terrible scheme worked for a time—she was forced into sex with 30 men over 12 days in August 2008, with her captor getting payments ranging from $60-200. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Today rapper Lil Wayne is expected to go to Rikers Island, where he'll spend most of 2010 behind bars after pleading guilty to "attempted" gun possession charges. In a cover story interview with Rolling Stone, Wayne says he hasn't sought advice on how to get through Rikers, because "This is Lil Wayne going to jail. Nobody I can talk to can tell me what that’s like. I just say I’m looking forward to it." It can be a mellow place if one avoids the fight clubs. Wayne spent his last night of freedom in the studio recording tracks bound for "Tha Carter IV," and also send out this heartfelt message, or "shout out," for his fans: more ›

A former Queens Assemblyman who resigned after being indicted for accepting bribes in the form of "consulting" fees was sentenced to six years in prison. Anthony Seminerio, 74, pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud after investigators alleged that he had taken up to $2 million in bribes, established a shell company to handle the "consulting" money, and was caught on tape accepting $25,000 from an FBI agent posing as a real estate developer. more ›

Former newsman Dominic Carter will serve his full 30-day jail sentence for abusing his wife, but his lawyers will continue to fight to clear his name. His attorney told the Post that "Dominic is confident that at the end of the entire legal process he will be exonerated" and that he decided against seeking bail as he awaits his appeal "in order to put this chapter behind him and immediately move forward with his life and career." The 45-year-old was locked up on Thursday for "punching, choking, and kicking" his wife during a 2008 dispute. On top of the jail sentence, Carter was ordered to stay away from his wife for two years "unless a psychiatrist assures the trial judge that the journalist is not a threat to her." His lawyer said the unemployed anchor plans to bring the case to a higher court "to raise multiple errors made by the [trial] judge that deprived Dominic Carter of a fair trial." more ›