Crown Heights shooter convicted second time for murder of innocent bystander

December 18, 2017 By Paul Frangipane Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Darius Dubarry was convicted of second-degree murder at Brooklyn Supreme Court (shown) for the death of an innocent bystander in Crown Heights. Eagle file photo by Rob Abruzzese

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A killer who left an innocent bystander bleeding out on Eastern Parkway roughly 10 years ago was convicted of second-degree murder in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Friday after his first conviction was overturned in 2015, according to court officials.

The murder trial of Darius Dubarry, 37, relied on whether the jury believed Dubarry was acting in self-defense when he fired about 10 times at an alleged rival gang member, killing Carol Simon.

“Darius Dubarry on Dec. 15, 2007, did not get up and say, ‘I’m gonna shoot up Eastern Parkway,’” defense attorney Lawrence Wright told jurors during the trial’s opening arguments.

Wright instead argued that Dubarry was finishing a Sabbath service at 390 Eastern Parkway and became the wrongful target of the Folk Nation street gang.

Assistant District Attorney Olatokunbo Olaniyan proved to the jury that the 9mm bullet inside the innocent nurse’s gut was shot by Dubarry without self-defense. The bullet was intended for alleged gang member Humberto Benjamin, who was looking for the man who previously stabbed one of his alleged associates, prosecutors said.

The pair’s shootout found Simon in the middle of a barrage of bullets on Eastern Parkway between Franklin and Bedford avenues.

“I’m shot! I’m shot!” she screamed while her 9-year-old son waited in their nearby car.

Simon was pronounced dead the same day at Kings County Hospital, according to trial testimony.

Dubarry was arrested on Dec. 23, 2007 at a Days Inn in Augusta, Georgia, living under a different name while his brother held his identification card, prosecutors said.

He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in 2009. The decision was overturned, however, when a Court of Appeals judge found he was wrongfully convicted of intentional murder and depraved indifference murder, saying the charges were mutually exclusive.

When it came to a new decision, the jury sent at least two notes requesting clarification of self-defense before they conceded they couldn’t decide. The guilty verdict came the following day after Supreme Court Justice Miriam Cyrulnik urged them to continue deliberations.

Dubarry faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 10, 2018.