In the summer of 2021, a young man's life was tragically cut short on a street in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens, New York. Wayne Joseph, a 29-year-old male, was fatally shot on the evening of June 11th. The events of that night unfolded with a chilling sequence that would ultimately lead to the end of one life and a long prison sentence for another.
On that Friday evening, at approximately 10:45 p.m., Joseph had just left a basement apartment on Quencer Road.
Shortly after exiting the residence, he was confronted and then pursued by a man named Rayshawn Cherry. The chase weaved around parked cars and past neighborhood homes as Joseph tried to escape his armed pursuer. The brief but terrifying pursuit ended when Cherry fired his weapon, striking Joseph in the torso and leg. Emergency services arrived at the scene and transported the gravely wounded Joseph to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, but his injuries proved to be fatal, and he died the following day.
The investigation into Wayne Joseph's death quickly identified Rayshawn Cherry, then 27, as the primary suspect. It was revealed that the apartment Joseph had been visiting was occupied by Cherry's girlfriend. In July 2021, a Queens grand jury indicted Cherry on charges of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
In a turn of events, rather than proceeding to a full trial, Rayshawn Cherry, a resident of the Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn, opted to accept a plea deal. On July 13, 2022, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant. Following his guilty plea, the judge sentenced Cherry to 18 years in prison, to be followed by five years of post-release supervision. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz commented on the resolution, stating that the plea ensured the defendant was held accountable for his actions and that the use of deadly weapons to settle disputes would not be tolerated on the streets of Queens.
