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The historic case was the first in the borough where jurors were presented with police body cam video as evidence during the trial.
Trial was first in Queens to use police body cam video as evidence
By Forum Staff
Three men have been sentenced to long terms of incarceration – ranging from 18 years to 25 years to life in prison – for the violent gunpoint home invasion that terrorized a family of five in Jamaica in June 2015, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
This was the first case in the borough where jurors were presented with police body cam video as evidence during the trial, Brown noted.
Aasim McPhee, 35, of Richmond Hill; John Hymes, 49, of Manhattan; and Robb Bull, 28, address unknown, were convicted in June of first-degree burglary, first- and second-degree robbery, first-degree attempted robbery, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child. Last week, sentenced Bull to 20 years in prison to be followed by five years’ post release supervision; Hymes, who, Brown noted, is a persistent felon, was sentenced to 25 years to life; and McPhee was ordered to serve 18 years in prison, also to be followed by five years’ post release supervision.
According to trial records, around 12:30 a.m. on June 4, 2015, one of the occupants of a home on 105th Avenue heard loud banging on the front door. He called 911, but before he could relay any information Hymes walked into the man’s ground-floor bedroom and pointed a gun at him, ordering him to floor. Bull rushed up the stairs to the second floor and yelled out that he was the police and put a gun to a 17-year-old girl’s head. The teen ran to her mother’s room with Bull behind her. He ordered both women to the floor and demanded money.
According to court records, all three defendants ransacked the home with both Bull and McPhee demanding money from the victims. Moments later, responding police entered the house and announced themselves. Police Officer Timothy Brosnan, who was participating in the City Police Department’s pilot body cam program, turned his camera on and captured 28 minutes of video footage. That video footage showed the apprehension of both Bull and McPhee. The two men were trying to escape and had exited the house through a rear second-floor window, but were found on the roof. Upon entering the backyard, Brosnan observed Bull standing on the roof and McPhee crouched down and crawling toward the neighbor’s house. The police officer then observed McPhee making a tossing motion with his hands and heard a crash coming from the neighboring yard. A black firearm was recovered from the landing and a silver revolver was found in the neighboring yard. Hymes was caught hours later exiting the yard of the home.
“The defendants terrorized a family of five on that summer night – storming into the home and threatening a nine-year-old child at gunpoint. A jury weighed all the evidence, which for the first time included video from a police officer’s body cam that showed two of the defendants being apprehended at the scene,” Brown added. “The court sentenced all three defendants to long terms of incarceration to protect society and to punish the culprits for their actions.”
