Sentence of 25 Years to Life for Man Convicted of May 2022 UWS Murder

By Daniel Katzive

A state Supreme Court judge in Manhattan handed down a lengthy sentence Tuesday in a May 1, 2022 execution-style murder on the Upper West Side.

The victim, 27-year-old Ronald Thomas, was shot in broad daylight as he sat in his car in the cul de sac where West 102nd Street runs into the Frederick Douglass Houses east of Amsterdam Avenue. The killing occurred on a Sunday afternoon. Three months later, Donta King, Jr, 27, was arrested in Pennsylvania and returned to New York to face charges.

King is set to serve 25 years to life for the crime after his conviction by a jury last month of second degree murder, according to the sentence delivered by Judge Michele S. Rodney on Tuesday. King will also serve concurrent terms of 15 years, plus five years of supervised release, for each of two weapons charges, of which he was also convicted. 

The crime was a “calibrated and deliberate” execution, according to Amy Hare, a deputy bureau chief in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, who addressed the court before the sentencing. Hare noted that Thomas was taken by surprise as he sat in his car, with no time to react; he was shot four times in the head from a distance of three feet. While the exact motive for the slaying was unknown, according to Hare, the evidence suggested the crime stemmed from a rivalry over a woman with whom both men were romantically involved.

Ronald Thomas’s mother, Rosemarie Johnson, attended the trial and Tuesday’s sentencing and provided a statement, which was read aloud by another son.

“How can I go on without my son,” she asked, and told the court Ronald leaves behind a 15-year old daughter and an eight year-old son. The daughter, Summar, also provided a statement which was read aloud by the prosecutor. She called May 1, 2022 a living nightmare, recalling the photographs of her father in the news, covered with a white sheet in his car.

King’s attorney, Lonnie Hart, Jr., reminded the court that his client had consistently proclaimed his innocence and had no prior criminal history or contact with the law. He pointed out that there was no DNA evidence, nor did fingerprints or eyewitnesses tie King to the shooting. He also noted that King is the single father of a six-year-old girl, and that King left college to care for his daughter after her mother was murdered. Hart asked the judge to impose the minimum sentence of 15 years to life.

Judge Rodney, however, noted that a jury had weighed the evidence and found King guilty of the crime. She imposed the maximum sentence as recommended by the District Attorney’s office. 

King, who has been held on Rikers Island since his August 2022 arrest, displayed little obvious emotion as he sat handcuffed next to his attorney throughout the proceedings. His lawyer did hint at a possible appeal, asking the judge that King be apprised of his rights in that regard before he was led away.

Thomas’s slaying was the only murder reported in the UWS’s 24th Precinct in 2022.