Crime & Safety
Brooklyn Man Convicted in Taxi Robbery
DNA evidence helps catch, convict Jamel Nails of Huntington taxi cab robbery.
DNA recovered from a water bottle linked a Brooklyn man to a June robbery of a Huntington taxi cab driver, according to .
Jamel Nails, 31, of Park Place, was convicted of first-degree robbery in Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead on Wednesday. A jury reached its verdict after one day of deliberation following a three-day trial.
Cab driver Kin Yuen testified that Nails punched and hit him on the head with a flashlight, taking $200 cash in the early morning hours of June 9, 2010.
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Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said a water bottle left at the scene eventually led to Nails, who had a prior violent felony conviction for using a hammer during a Virginia robbery.
Nails, who was arrested in August, faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced in March.
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