Jury Sentences NYC Man to 25-Life in New Rochelle Robbery, Bribery Case

A Westchester County jury sentenced a Brooklyn man Tuesday to 25 years to life in a 2008 burglary on Odell Place in New Rochelle that left the victim paralyzed and in a wheelchair.

Elliot May, 41, was charged with two counts of first-degree burglary, first-degree assault and first-degree attempted bribing of a witness, all felonies.

The defendant was sentenced as a persistent violent felony offender, according to District Attorney Janet DiFiore. In addition to his state prison term, which came in the form of two concurrent 25-to-life sentences, May was sentenced to a consecutive term of 2 to 4 years on the bribery counts.

Co-defendants Tracy Steadman, 42, of 18 Rollins St. in Yonkers, pleaded guilty to one count first-degree attempted burglary on Sept. 19, 2009 and Kyrie Baum, 33, of 395 Ocean Ave. in Brooklyn pleaded guilty to attempted bribing of a witness on Sept. 24, 2009.

Steadman was the girlfriend of the victim.

A few weeks before the burglary at 1 Odell Place, Steadman began asking the victim about the jewelry he owned, which prompted suspicion. The victim, not identified, began to hide the valuables.

Then, on Oct. 10, 2008, at about 11 p.m., Steadman visited the victim. As he went to take a shower, she told him that there was someone at the door. Dressed in a towel, the victim went to the door and was set upon by May and another unknown individual, the DA said in a release.

"The defendant pistol whipped the victim about five times. The other individual had a gun to the roommate...With a gun to the victim's head, (May) ordered his accomplice to tie them with duct tape and one of them gave an order to kill both of them. At this point the victim pushed the defendant out of the way, ran into his bedroom and jumped out of an open window in an attempt to save his life," the DA said.

May, Steadman and the unidentified individual ran off.

As a result of his jump and subsequent fall, the victim is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. May and Stedman were apprehended in January 2008.

The bribery conviction stems from calls and threats made while May was in jail.

Through what the DA described as "numerous phone calls" he was able to gain the help of Baum and Kendell Miller, 38, of 120 Pelham Road, New Rochelle.

Baum and Miller visited the victim in his hospital bed and attempted to bribe him by offering money, food, clothes and shelter if he came to court and said he identified the wrong person and that May was not part of the incident.

Assistant District Attorney Heide Mason and Assistant District Attorney Christine Cervasio, of the Superior Court Trial Division, prosecuted the case.