Westchester Man Gets 25-To-Life In 'Callous And Violent' Murder

MOUNT VERNON, NY — A man who unloaded a handgun into an acquaintance after a verbal dispute learned his fate today.

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah announced today that a Mount Vernon man was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for the murder of 28-year-old Mount Vernon resident Kashawn Smith.

"Today, we have secured justice for Kashawn Smith and accountability for this defendant’s callous and violent crime," Roach said announcing the sentence.

After a three-week trial, a jury on February 7, found John Bobbitt, 45, guilty of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

On April 28, 2020, at approximately 10 p.m., following a verbal dispute with the victim, whom he knew, Bobbitt used a .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol to shoot the victim five times, striking him in the head, chest, torso and back, on Millington Street in Mount Vernon.

Smith was rushed to Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Bobbitt was caught at a relative’s home in Newark on July 13, 2020, following a multi-jurisdictional investigation and manhunt by the Mount Vernon Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Newark Police Department, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.