Nassau judge rejects request by Tremaine Alexander to reduce sentence for killing his mother's boyfriend

An Inwood man’s request for a reduced sentence after serving almost 20 years for killing his mother’s boyfriend was denied by a Nassau County judge, who found he still posed a danger to the community.

Tremaine Alexander, 45, who shot his mother’s boyfriend in the back on Jan. 3, 2003, applied earlier this year for resentencing under the Domestic Abuse Survivors Justice Act, which recognizes the role that violence in the home plays in crime.

Alexander was convicted in 2004 of fatally shooting Frank Beamon during a shouting match in the family home.

During a series of hearings over the summer, psychiatric professionals, family members and Alexander testified about his harrowing upbringing, splitting time between his mother and father.

Even as a toddler, an argument between his mother and her boyfriend caused Alexander to be knocked to the floor and cut his chin severely enough to need stitches, according to testimony.

He was put in the care of his father and paternal grandparents, where life was much calmer, he told the court. As he got older, his mother came back into his life and so did the violence between her and her boyfriends. At 6 or 7, he tried to intervene in a fight between his mother and her boyfriend, resulting in him getting hit by a clothes iron.

"He started to choke my mother," he told the court. "I tried to get him off, but I was too little, so I bit him."

On two occasions when he was young, he and his mother had to leave a home in the middle of the night to avoid further abuse. Another boyfriend made Alexander go without food and beat him with a belt or extension cord. He saw men get jealous and violent toward his mother and then turn on him when he tried to protect his mother.

Alexander said he was molested by a basketball coach during summer camp when he was young.

In 2003, Beamon moved into his mother’s house and was living there. Alexander recalled being awakened from a nap to hear the two of them screaming at each other. When his mother emerged from her bedroom with her hair in disarray, Alexander said he thought to himself, "This cannot be happening again."

Beamon and Alexander struggled over a metal pole, but there was no testimony of the boyfriend threatening or physically attacking Alexander.

As Beamon left the home, Alexander went to his car, got a gun and shot the boyfriend several times, killing him.

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, which opposed the earlier release date, argued that Alexander was not subject to domestic violence at the time of the murder. They also raised several instances of violence by Alexander against staff and other inmates since he’s been incarcerated.

Acting Supreme Court Justice Teresa Corrigan determined that Alexander’s experience qualified him as a domestic abuse survivor under the law.

"This event of domestic abuse was a triggering event that sparked the defendant’s behavior and was a continuation of the psychological domestic abuse experienced by the defendant throughout his lifetime," the judge determined.

Corrigan said Alexander was motivated to protect his mother from yet another physically dominant boyfriend.

"Unable to do that with his physical strength (the same problem he had throughout his young life), he used a gun and shot and killed Beamon," the judge wrote in her decision.

In nearly all criteria, Alexander qualified for sentence reduction, except the crucial factor of the risk Alexander could pose to public safety and his risk to commit other crimes, Corrigan said.

In considering that, she looked at the 40 disciplinary issues that he’s faced since beginning his prison sentence. They include fights with prison staff and other inmates, four of which occurred in the last three years. She referenced a psychiatrist, Dr. Alexander Bardey, who took the stand on behalf of the prosecutors, saying Alexander posed a "moderate potential for further violence."

"As such, this court will not put a community at risk in releasing someone who does not appear to have control over his behavior," the judge said.

Bardey said that with therapy, he could overcome his obstacles.

Corrigan asked the parole board to consider that when he comes up for release in 2027.

Kate Skolnick, an assistant law professor at Pace University who co-chairs a task force that tracks the domestic violence survivor law, praised the judge's conclusion that Alexander qualified for a sentence reduction under the act.

"It has been troubling to watch courts narrow what was intended to be an ameliorative statute, so the court's decision to adopt an understanding more consistent with social science is refreshing," she said in an email.

However, Skolnick found fault in Corrigan's decision to leave Alexander's current sentence in place.

"The available record shows that Mr. Alexander has a robust family support network," she said. "This is a protective factor that should have been accounted for in evaluating how he would do upon release." 

Jeffrey Groder, Alexander’s defense attorney, said they haven’t given up trying to get him an early release.

"My client is disappointed by the judge’s decision and looks forward to his appeal," he said.