Landlord Gets 20 Years in Tenant Murder

[consigliere]

Newsday: Landlord Gets 20 Years in Tenant Murder
 
An Upper East Side landlord was sentenced today to 20 years to life in prison for murdering a longtime tenant.
 
Louis Hubrecht, 68, was convicted in March for the Sept. 11, 2000 death of Barbara Kenna, 69, who was shot six times in the chest as she stood on the landing outside Hubrecht's door.
 
State Supreme Court Justice Harold Beeler said he had considered Hubrecht's age, medical problems and previously clean record, "but nothing can ever excuse what occurred on that day.
 
"Nothing can ever excuse the six bullets he fired at point blank range at Ms. Kenna. Nothing can ever excuse the delay in calling the EMS people who might have saved her life."
 
Hubrecht would be 88 if he served the minimum prison sentence given by Beeler.
 
Defense attorney Robert Gottlieb had told the judge that his client, who has been treated for colon cancer and suffers from diabetes, would likely die in prison.
Prosecutor Robert Frazer had asked for the maximum sentence of 25 years to life.
 
"Just as he gave Ms. Kenna no hope of survival that day — he shot her six times — we feel that he should have no hope of rejoining society."
 
Hubrecht, who was given the opportunity to speak in court, said "I'm very sorry for what happened," and sat down.
 
The defense had argued at trial that Hubrecht acted in self-defense after Kenna tried to attack him with a claw hammer, and Frazer said the pre-sentencing and probation report showed that Hubrecht still claimed to have acted in self defense.
 
Frazer said the investigation of the crime scene showed some indications that Hubrecht may have tampered with evidence.
 
Kenna had lived in Hubrecht's building on Madison Avenue at 62nd Street for 34 years, and the pair had a contentious relationship.
 
The final dispute began with the disappearance of the landlord's $2 wrench. Gottlieb said at the sentencing that his client "had reached the point where he could not cope with this ever-escalating conflict. ... This certainly is not your typical cold-blooded killing, but rather the confluence of events that took place over three decades."
 
Kenna's niece, Joan Valente, told the court and Hubrecht that her aunt had been "part of every great moment in my life, and now, thanks to Louis Hubrecht, part of the most tragic one as well."