November 1, 2006

Deer Park Man Sentenced for Island Park Murder

Found guilty of Murder 1°, Judge gives Jeannot life in prison

MINEOLA, NY - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that Herve Jeannot, 25, found guilty of Murder in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree in August, was sentenced by the Honorable Meryl J. Berkowitz to life-in-prison for the December 2004 killing of Bobby Calabrese, 24, in Island Park.

At the sentencing, the district attorney’s office recommended Mr. Jeannot receive life-in-prison.

On December 3, 2004, Herve Jeannot and Mark Orlando, 36, of Bayshore, arranged to meet the victim at a secluded area along Broadway Avenue in Island Park. The purpose of the meeting was for Mr. Orlando to pay the victim $17,000 in gambling losses. At approximately 8:30 p.m. that Friday evening, Bobby Calabrese arrived at the location and was met by Mr. Orlando outside of his vehicle. After a brief exchange, Mr. Jeannot appeared from behind Mr. Orlando and fired a single shot from a .44 caliber pistol into the victim’s head. Once on the ground, Mr. Jeannot fired two additional shots before fleeing the scene in Mr. Orlando’s car. Mr. Jeannot would later confess to the killing, admitting that Mr. Orlando had paid him $4,000 to murder Mr. Calabrese and that he tossed the murder weapon off the Sloop Channel Bridge. Money believed to be the proceeds of that payment was later recovered from Mr. Jeannot’s bedroom closet and the .44 caliber pistol used in the murder was later retrieved from the Sloop Channel.

Mark Orlando was charged and convicted in June 2005 of Murder in the Second Degree. He was sentenced in August of last year to 25-years-to-life in prison, the maximum under New York state law. Mr. Jeannot was charged with Murder in the First Degree, punishable by life in prison without the possibility of parole, under the ‘murder for hire’ statute of New York state law.

Executive Assistant District Attorney for Litigation Sheryl Anania and the Deputy Bureau Chief of the Special Victims Bureau, Assistant District Attorney Stephen Antignani, handled the case for the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Jeannot is being represented by William Aronwald, Esq., of White Plains.

For more information on Herve Jeannot’s conviction, click here.
For more information on Mark Orlando’s conviction, click here.
For more information on Mark Orlando’s sentencing, click here.