First criminal trial with jury convicts on gun possesion
In the first jury trial in Brooklyn state court since March 2020, a 29-year-old Brooklyn man was convicted of possessing an illegal weapon, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on Friday.
Strict COVID protocols were observed throughout the proceedings as planned, and additional trials are expected to commence this month, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Marc Ferdinand, 29, of Canarsie, was convicted Thursday of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation following a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Heidi Cesare. He is facing a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison when he’s sentenced on May 28, 2021.
On Jan. 23, 2020, at 11:45 a.m., Ferdinand, driving a 2016 Mercedes Benz, Ferdinand, was stopped by police near the intersection of Avenue L and East 98th Street in Canarsie for excessively tinted windows, according to court testimony.
Police discovered that he was driving with a suspended license and he was subsequently placed under arrest. When he was searched in the 69th Precinct stationhouse, a loaded .380 caliber pistol was found in his underwear. Swabs taken from the gun later matched the defendant’s DNA.
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.