Homeless Man Held Without Bail in Student Death
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
A homeless man who prosecutors say admitted he suffocated a college student in his New York City apartment has been held without bail after his arraignment on a charge of first-degree murder.
A felony complaint says Jeromie Cancel admitted he killed 19-year-old Kevin Pravia in the victim’s Manhattan apartment on Saturday by stuffing a plastic bag in his mouth while holding his nose and choking him with a cord around his neck.
The complaint says Mr. Cancel was leaving the apartment but returned and attacked Pravia.
Mr. Cancel didn’t enter a plea at yesterday’s arraignment.
A defense lawyer, Michael Alperstein, asked a criminal court judge to order that his 22-year-old client get his psychotropic medications, meant to stabilize his behavior. He wouldn’t comment further as he left court.
