What to Know
- A New York man was sentenced to prison for violently attacking a longtime friend at a birthday party after an argument and then agreeing to pay $5,000 to have this friend killed before he could testify to the attack he endured, the Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
- Mark Douglas was sentenced to nine years Tuesday after pleading guilty in November to charges of conspiracy in the second degree, bribing a witness, tampering with a witness in the fourth degree, assault in the first and second degrees, and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Douglas was also sentenced to five years post-release supervision.
- The charges stem from a series of events that started on May 16, 2021 when Douglas was at home when he got into an argument with his longtime friend, a 43-year-old man, who was there to celebrate Douglas' birthday. Douglas ended up attacking him from behind, while outside, with a broken glass bottle that he picked up off the street. The attack left Douglas' friend needing more than 100 stitches to his face.
A New York man was sentenced to prison for violently attacking a longtime friend at a birthday party after an argument and then agreeing to pay $5,000 to have this friend killed before he could testify to the attack he endured, the Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Mark Douglas was sentenced to nine years Tuesday after pleading guilty in November to charges of conspiracy in the second degree, bribing a witness, tampering with a witness in the fourth degree, assault in the first and second degrees, and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Douglas was also sentenced to five years post-release supervision.
The charges stem from a series of events that started on May 16, 2021.
According to the charges, it was on that day, at around 4 a.m. that Douglas was at home when he got into an argument with his longtime friend, a 43-year-old man, who was there to celebrate Douglas' birthday. The friend left and Douglas went to him outside, attacking him from behind with a broken glass bottle that he picked up off the street. The attack left Douglas' friend needing more than 100 stitches to his face.
Subsequently, Douglas was arrested days later, on May 25, 2021, on charges of assault in the first degree and second degrees and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Because of the charges, Douglas' one-time friend was a witness scheduled to testify against Douglas at the trial related to the attack. However, during that following winter, Douglas apparently made it known that he wanted to have his one-time friend killed.
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A probe into the matter was launched with the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprise Bureau, the District Attorney's Felony Trial Bureau, as well as the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau working together to set up a sting operation that found that during the spring and summer of 2022, Douglas spoke on multiple occasions with undercover officers who were posing as hitmen. According to the charges, Douglas even met with one of them in person in August 2022 and agreed to pay $5,000 to have his one-time friend killed.
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Douglas gave the undercover officer personal information of his former friend, which included his photo and address.
Because of the sting operation, on Sept. 7, 2022, Douglass was arrested on new charges, including conspiracy and bribing a witness.
“Thanks to the smart and consistent collaboration between my office and the NYPD, a violent, dangerous man is going to prison. Police and prosecutors working together is how we make our communities safer," Katz said.
