1 hour ago
2
A Long Island man was convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing, suffocating and beating his longtime pal with a baseball bat during a brutal hours-long assault after a day of drinking in the Hamptons.
Jeremy Allen, 44, began the nightmarish boozy attack on Sept. 27, 2024, by beating 43-year-old Christopher Hahn so savagely for 18 straight minutes that the sound of the blows could be heard on footage from a surveillance camera outside his East Quogue home, the Suffolk County DA’s office said.
“This defendant betrayed a bond of friendship in the most horrific way imaginable, and today’s verdict holds him accountable,” Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement Thursday.
“The evidence presented at trial demonstrated the deliberate cruelty of his actions over the course of several hours,” Tierney said. “I thank the prosecutors for their dedication to ensuring the victim received justice, the Suffolk Police’s Homicide Squad for their thorough investigation in this case, and the jury for their careful attention during this trial.”
Allen and Hahn had been friends since high school, and met up earlier in the day at a local bar to booze it up for hours, before they both went to Allen’s home for more drinking, authorities said.
Shortly after midnight, Allen suddenly turned on his friend, beating him into semi-consciousness.
Hahn was left on a rear deck — but the vicious assault was only beginning, prosecutors said.
Allen returned with a bat and pounded the victim repeatedly in the head and body, then grabbed a plastic bag and tied it across Hahn’s head, watching him struggle for life from a nearby lawn chair.
Prosecutors said the convicted killer then grabbed a knife from his home and “slowly stabbed the victim in the neck 10 times,” watching as Hahn took his last breaths, six hours after the vicious attack began.
Allen tried to clean up the bloody scene, and even called the handyman to help him get rid of the evidence — only the shocked handyman slip away to call the cops.
Police nabbed Allen not long after, and he was charged with murder for the senseless attack.
On Wednesday, a Suffolk County jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence — and he now faces life without parole when he is sentenced on Feb. 26.
English (US)