A cold-blooded killer whose attorney followed his ill-fated instructions to reveal his abusive past to jurors was convicted on Friday for murdering a transgender prostitute inside her Queens apartment.
Rasheen Everett, 32, proudly walked into the courtroom smiling at his family members before the foreman read three “guilty” verdicts for murder, burglary and tampering with physical evidence.
Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar, 29, was a transsexual woman who operated a “risky business” from inside her Glendale pad, posting suggestive advertisements on the internet until Everett answered on March 27, 2010.
During the month-long trial, Everett arrogantly instructed his attorney, John A. Scarpa Jr. to discredit his ex-girlfriend’s testimony on cross-examination, which, ultimately, revealed that he choked her in the past.
“This was a revenge plot, you’re only testifying to get back at Rasheen for what he did to you?” questioned Scarpa after foolishly opening a can of worms that left jurors scratching their heads.
“I didn’t understand why they let us hear about that,” said a juror who didn’t want to be named, but admitted “it didn’t close the case for me at that point, I wanted to be fair, but it did for some of the other jurors.”
Everett was caught on video entering into the building and leaving 18 hours later to head on a three-day bus ride to Las Vegas. Queens homicide detectives brought him back to New York a few weeks later.
“Within 20 minutes, [Everett] choked her to death, bleached her body, cleaned the apartment and left the apartment with carry two heavy bags with a hood covering his head like a coward,” said prosecutor Karen Ross during her closing arguments on Thursday.
“He wanted to tell me what happened so I listened,” said the prosecutor’s cooperation witness, Darius Ferguson who added, “He said he choked her until she wasn’t breathing.”
Medical examiners determined Gonzalez-Andujar was strangled to death — her voice box was crushed.
“Thank God! God is good!” bellowed several relatives of Gonzalez-Andujar inside the courtroom.
Everett faces 40 years to life in prison when sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter on December 5.