Man Facing Drug Trial Leaps to Death at Court
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NEW YORK — A 19-year-old man apparently distraught over a prison sentence offered in exchange for his guilty plea in a drug case jumped through a courthouse window Thursday and fell 16 stories to his death.
“I’m 19 years old, your honor. That is terrible. That’s terrible,” Derrick Smith told State Supreme Court Justice Budd Goodman, according to a court transcript.
Smith was charged with criminal sale of cocaine and had been offered three to six years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea. He had a history of drug convictions.
After Smith rejected the offer, Goodman set his trial for Nov. 25. As Smith was led from the courtroom, he ran, jumped on a bench in front of the window and leaped to his death, falling on a corrections department bus before tumbling to the ground.
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