Woodhaven man gets life in prison for 2014 shooting

Judge Ira Margulis presided over the sentencing of Sherman Manning. Eagle file photo by David Brand.

By Jonathan Sperling

The perpetrator in a 2014 shooting that left a 20-year-old man dead in the middle of a South Richmond Hill street was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Tuesday.

Sherman Manning was convicted of second-degree murder last month and sentenced by Supreme Court Justice Ira Margulis. While driving near 108th Street and 103rd Avenue in the early morning of April 19, 2014, Manning gunned down his rival, Howard Beach resident Brendan Santiago, 20, while the latter rode on a moped.

“This was another senseless act of violence. A 20-year-old man was killed. The unsuspecting victim was shot once in the head and left for dead in the streets of a residential neighborhood in Queens,” Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan said in a statement.

A witness who heard the shooting looked out the window and saw Manning’s white pickup truck leaving the scene, according to court documents. Another witness testified that Manning admitted to him that he shot Santiago because he was a competing drug dealer. Manning also admitted to authorities that he was in the area at the time of the shooting and was driving a white truck.

“The sentenced imposed today by the Court is more than warranted and protects the residents of Queens from this violent killer,” Ryan added.

The first trial against Manning ended in a mistrial last November after nine days of jury deliberations. Several courthouse personnel remarked at the time that it was the longest deliberation they had ever seen.

The family of Santiago, who was reportedly known as “Scooter Joe,” attended Queens Supreme Court every day of the trial.

“We’re here everyday and it’s been rough for us,” the victim’s mother Bernice Santiago told the Eagle at the time. “We want justice. We want a guilty verdict.”