Defendant: Damon Scott (DOB 01/29/76)

Dec. 4, 2018 -- Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. announced Damon Scott, formerly of Yonkers, was sentenced to 20-years-to-life in prison for his Murder in the Second Degree conviction after a jury trial in the 2008 shooting death of Jerome Hancock, a Yonkers resident and father of five. County Court Judge George Fufidio presided over the trial.

Background
On June 16, 2008 at approximately 4:50 a.m., a Lincoln Town Car taxi driven by Damon Scott pulled up in front of Mexico Car Service on South Broadway in Yonkers where Jerome Hancock and a friend were waiting for a cab. The defendant pointed a handgun across the passenger seat and shot Hancock through the window striking him in his chest and killing him. Scott then sped off, dismantled and disposed of the murder weapon and fled New York. People at the scene called 911 and members of the Yonkers Police Department responded. Within days, Yonkers Police located the taxi and a search warrant was executed. The Westchester County forensic lab discovered gunshot residue primer in the car.

Scott fled to Georgia and remained at large and on the run using several aliases for almost a decade.  In 2013, Yonkers Police Cold Case Unit was assigned to the open investigation.

In 2017, Scott was apprehended on an unrelated gun possession case in Alpharetta, Georgia. Yonkers Police brought the defendant back to Westchester County to face this murder charge. 

In the Courtroom
Before Judge Fufidio passed sentence, the victim’s wife, Jessica Hancock told the court and Scott of the impact her husband’s death had on her family. She spoke of being the mother of five young children at the time of Hancock’s death. ”I have had to raise five children on my own. Jerome was a father like no other.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Lana Hochheiser, Deputy Chief of the Homicide Bureau, and Julia Cornachio, Chief of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau.

 In compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3.6, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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