NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A man was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison on Monday after he was reconvicted earlier this year for the 2010 murder of a transgender woman in Queens, District Attorney Melinda Katz announced.
Rasheen Everett, 43, was first tried and found guilty of the murder of 29-year-old Amanda Gonzalez Andujar in her Glendale apartment in 2013, but the conviction was reversed in 2021 “due to a judicial error of the trial judge,” the district attorney’s office said.
The Manhattan man was retried and found guilty of second-degree murder, second-degree burglary and tampering with physical evidence after an October 2024 jury trial. It only took the jury about one hour to deliberate, prosecutors said.
On March 27, 2010, Everett entered the apartment of Andujar just before 9 a.m., according to the trial records. Several minutes after he went inside, Andujar’s neighbor heard screaming and banging consistent with a struggle and called 911.
Officers responded but were unable to gain entry. Eighteen hours later, Everett was observed on surveillance footage leaving Andujar’s apartment by himself and carrying two bags. He was convicted of stealing her personal belongings.
In the afternoon on March 30, concerned family members entered Andujar’s apartment after not being able to reach her, and discovered her body on a bed with bleach burns. The medical examiner determined the chemical burns occurred post-mortem, but she was killed by compression of the neck.
Everett fled New York but was arrested on April 9, in Las Vegas, Nevada. His DNA was found under Andujar’s fingernails.
Following his reconviction, Everett was sentenced on Monday to 25 years to life in prison on the murder charge and 15 years on the burglary charge, to run concurrently. He was also sentenced to two to four years on the tampering with physical evidence charge, to run consecutively.
“This defendant callously took the life of a young woman and then tried to hide the crime. After a prior reversal of his conviction due to judicial error, we retried the defendant and the jury returned a guilty verdict,” Katz said. “I hope today’s sentence brings a long-awaited measure of solace to the victim’s family.”