Peekskill killer gets maximum sentence for fatal shooting of Mohegan Lake father of four

A Peekskill man who fatally shot a man he had set up for a robbery was sentenced Thursday to 25 years to life in state prison.

Michael Jenkins, 22, got the maximum sentence for second-degree murder from state Supreme Court Judge Robert Neary after hearing the victim's mother describe him as a "depraved human and heathen."

Jenkins fatally shot Emmanuel Jordan in the victim's car on Paulding Street in Peekskill on May 8, 2020. The two did not know each other but Jenkins had found Jordan on the internet and set up a meeting to buy painkillers from him.

The shooting occurred at about 6 p.m. but police did not discover his body until about nine hours later.

Immediately after the shooting, Jenkins cleared his links to Jordan from social media and let people know he had Percocet pills to sell.

"To Michael Jenkins it was business as usual," Assistant District Attorney Laura Murphy told Neary.

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In asking for the maximum, Murphy argued that Jenkins had not learned from his previous crimes. Those included an attempted robbery in 2017 and an incident in 2015 when he took someone's basketball and stabbed him when the person tried to get it back.

Jordan, 27, of Mohegan Lake, had four children. His mother, Barbara Jordan, told Neary she is "repulsed and enraged" by Jenkins and remains traumatized by the killing, with trouble sleeping and flashbacks of the detective's call that woke her up that morning.

She described Jordan as a good son and father, always willing to help others, and said that she misses his hugs, phone calls, smile and laughter.

"I'm proud of him and proud to say he did not have malice in his heart," she said. "What will you be remembered for, Michael Jenkins? Or will you be remembered at all?"

Murphy said Jenkins' lack of remorse was evident in his insistence that the gun had belonged to Jordan. He made that claim first to detectives following his arrest the day after the shooting and then when he testified at the trial in September.

The jury took just three hours to convict him of second-degree murder, not for intentionally killing Jordan but for doing so during a robbery. He was also convicted on manslaughter, weapon and robbery charges.

When Neary gave Jenkins the chance to speak before he imposed the sentence, the defendant said only, "No, I'm good."

As Jenkins was led out of the courtroom, he was just a few feet from Barbara Jordan and her relatives.

"You piece of dirt," she said to him.

He just looked at her and raised his eyebrows as the court officers walked him into the holding cell.

Afterward, his lawyer Samuel Davis said he was grateful Neary did not impose consecutive sentences, which could have made Jordan ineligible for parole for up to 35 years instead of 25.

The judge said he did not think the law allowed him to based on the circumstances of the case, even though one of the weapon charges related to possession at a different time than the shooting.

Neary denied Davis' motion to set aside the verdict on the grounds that a video showing Jenkins with what appeared to be the murder weapon prior to the fatal confrontation was not shared with the defense until after the trial had begun.

That evidence was believed to be key to jurors dismissing the claim that Jordan had brought the gun to the drug sale.

Davis said the conviction will be appealed and the video will be a major focus of the appeal.

Twitter: @jonbandler

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Michael Jenkins sentenced for killing Emmanuel Jordan in Peekskill