NEW YORK — An accused gang member who dodged murder charges in the 2015 killing of an aide to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo scored another court victory Monday when a jury acquitted him of federal gun possession charges connected to the fatal shooting.
Stanley Elianor, 31, was found not guilty after a weeklong trial in Brooklyn Federal Court of a charge that he possessed a firearm as a felon during the deadly shootout that killed Carey Gabay, 43, in Crown Heights on Sept. 7, 2015.
Gabay was struck in the head by a stray bullet during the J’Ouvert festivities before the Caribbean Day Parade, in a gunfight authorities have said was sparked by a turf war between the 8-Trey Crips, Hoodstarz and Folk Nation gangs.
A state Supreme Court jury in 2018 found two Folk Nation gang members, Micah Alleyne and Kenny Bazille, guilty of manslaughter, but acquitted Elianor and another defendant, Keith Luncheon, of murder and other charges.
Elianor was found guilty of reckless endangerment — which brought him a sentence of three-and-a-half to seven years behind bars.
The federal case hinged in part on Elianor’s DNA being found on a discarded gun, and on the testimony of Folk Nation turncoat Tyshawn Crawford, who pleaded guilty in exchange for a 14-year prison term.
Elianor’s lawyer, Gary Farrell, argued that the gun was shared by members of the gang, and prosecutors never established he touched it the day of the shooting. The verdict showed that the jury didn’t believe Crawford’s testimony, he said.
“I never said my client was a Boy Scout. But I am confident that he did not possess the gun he was charged with during J’Ouvert, nor did he possess any gun during the J’Ouvert shooting,” his defense attorney, Gary Farrell, said Monday. “And that’s what the federal court jury found in 2022. So now hopefully, in the not too distant future, he can move on with his life.”
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