Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison over Shooting at a Poker Game

A young man from New York State faced a retrial earlier this week. The 29-year-old, Charquan Edwards, who was previously sentenced in 2015 for a shooting at a private poker game was re-sentenced to 20-years-to-life in prison.

A Man Sentenced in 2015 Receives the Same Sentence at a Retrial

A man from New York State was sentenced to at a minimum of 20-years-to-life in prison on Monday this week. Charquan Edwards, who was previously sentenced for shooting a man during a private poker game back in 2015, faced a retrial. Initially, Edwards was sentenced to prison by now-retired Judge John Brunetti in 2015. However, the 2015 trial was overturned in 2019 by the appellate court after it found several issues with the sentence.

Since the initial accident in 2015, multiple eyewitnesses have deceased. However, during the retrial testimony, US State Supreme Court Judge Gordon Cuffy allowed the testimony of the deceased to be read in front of the jury. Although Judge Cuffy acknowledged that Edwards is an “intelligent young man“, he reaffirmed the original sentence by Judge Brunetti. Consequently, Edwards was re-sentenced to 20-years-to-life in prison. With that in mind, he will serve the sentence concurrently while the court took into consideration the time which he already served since his initial conviction.

The 2015 Shooting at a Private Poker Game

Back in 2015, Edwards, 23 at the time, participated in a poker game that turned out badly. Having lost twice, he returned two times to re-enter the game with more money. After losing for the third time, he came back with a gun and attempted to flee with some $9,000 from the poker table cash.

Before fleeing the private poker game, Edwards shot George Smith, one of the players who was 83 at that time. Although Smith survived the shooting he passed away of unrelated causes at age 89 last year. Edawrds’ escape from the crime scene was captured by a security camera. Shortly after that, he was arrested.