Latest solved cold case in Westchester; second defendant awaits sentencing after April guilty plea

October 10, 2024

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced today that an Albany man was sentenced to 20 years in state prison for the 1995 fatal stabbing of 32-year-old Michael Jones when both men were incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining. 

DA Rocah said: “Thanks to the tenacity of the investigators and prosecutors dedicated to solving this cold case, we were able to secure convictions that finally hold accountable those responsible for the Christmas Eve death of Michael Jones at Sing Sing nearly 30 years ago.” 

After a five-week trial, a jury on May 20 found the defendant, Allah-Son-Allah, 54, guilty of Manslaughter in the First Degree. The defendant was acquitted of Murder in the Second Degree. The defendant will also be subject to five years of post-release supervision.  

At approximately 8 p.m. on Dec. 24, 1995, inside Sing Sing Correctional Facility, the defendant used a buck knife to stab the victim in the chest, puncturing his heart, and causing him to bleed to death. 

The investigation—initiated in 1995 and reinvigorated in 2019 by the New York State Police and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office—determined that the defendant and the victim were purportedly members of the Five-Percent Nation, also known as Nation of Gods and Earth, a Nation of Islam breakaway group established in the 1960s. 

As detailed during the trial, members of the Five-Percent Nation voted a day before the stabbing to attack the victim after he violated the group’s beliefs by wearing a cross.  

New York State Police and the Cold Case and Homicide bureaus of the DA’s Office traveled to multiple states to interview several witnesses who were incarcerated at Sing Sing at the time of the stabbing.  

The defendant was arrested on May 16, 2023.

Co-Defendant Steven Smith, 60, of Salisbury, North Carolina, also incarcerated with the victim at Sing Sing in 1995 and involved in the incident, was arrested on May 11, 2023, and awaits sentencing after he pleaded guilty on April 15 to Manslaughter in the Second Degree. 

The District Attorney thanked the New York State Police for their commitment in the decades-long investigation and the Albany Police Department and the Salisbury Police Department for their assistance with the arrests. 

The case was before Judge George Fufidio in Westchester County Court and prosecuted by Homicide Bureau Senior Trial Counsel Brian Bendish and Cold Case Bureau Chief Daniel Flecha.  

This conclusion is one of several notable outcomes for the DA’s Office since DA Rocah launched the Cold Case Bureau upon taking office in 2021 as part of a promise to seek justice and closure for the families of victims in more than 130 open homicide cases in Westchester County. 

Committed to renewing investigations and maximizing advancements in scientific and digital forensics, to date, the Office has secured 20-years-to-life prison sentences against defendants responsible for the 1997 murder of Pamela Graddick, the 2005 murder of Angel Serbay, a 25-years-to-life prison sentence in the 2017 murder of Diana Casado, and indictments in the 2017 death of Tremayne Williams and the 1982 Homicide of Kathleen Durst. 

In a first for Westchester County, the Office was awarded a $500,000 Department of Justice grant that supports the Bureau’s work using DNA to solve cold cases. 

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