{"id":108620,"date":"2026-01-22T15:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/108620\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T15:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:15:19","slug":"sentenced-in-2021-fatal-crash-involving-stolen-car-defendant-issues-statement-to-staten-island-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/108620\/","title":{"rendered":"Sentenced in 2021 fatal crash involving stolen car, defendant issues statement to Staten Island family"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 After being sentenced Tuesday in a 2021 crash that claimed the lives of a Staten Island couple, the now 23-year-old defendant expressed his condolences to the victims\u2019 family. <\/p>\n

Prince Nesbitt-Hall, of New Jersey, pleaded guilty Dec. 8 in state Supreme Court, St. George, to a lesser count of first-degree assault<\/a> as a means to resolve the case. Prosecutors said Nesbitt-Hall was driving a stolen car at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n

In the days that followed, the victims were identified as a married couple from Bulls Head \u2014 Shahzad Akhund, 70, and his wife Kauser Akhund, 68.<\/p>\n

In exchange for his plea, the defendant was sentenced by Justice Alexander B. Jeong to 17 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. <\/p>\n

Manhattan-based defense attorney Alain V. Massena issued the following statement afterward: \u201cPrince Nesbitt-Hall and the family of Prince Nesbitt-Hall would like to send their sincere condolences to the Akhund family.\u201d <\/p>\n

Following the defendant\u2019s guilty plea in December, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon commended members of the NYPD and Assistant District Attorney Alva Prenga, chief of the vehicular crimes unit, for their efforts in securing a conviction.<\/p>\n

The defendant, meanwhile, was already sentenced in early 2025 to seven years in prison for multiple offenses, including a robbery in Essex County, New Jersey, records show. <\/p>\n

Traveling at a deadly rate of speed\"CrashHere, police responded Feb. 16, 2020, to a report of a crash near Elson Street and Lamberts Lane in Graniteville that claimed the lives of a Staten Island couple. The driver responsible was sentenced this week.(Staten Island Advance\/Jan Somma-Hammel)<\/p>\n

On the evening of Feb. 16, 2021, Nesbitt-Hall was driving at a high rate of speed in a stolen 2020 Honda Accord, authorities said in court documents. <\/p>\n

He blew through a stop sign at the intersection of Elson Street and Lamberts Lane in Graniteville, where he crashed into a 2013 Mercedes-Benz. <\/p>\n

Authorities said that while officers in the area were searching for the defendant, he walked for 20 minutes to the 121st Precinct station house and told officers there that he had been robbed. \u201cThankfully, officers were dubious of the defendant,\u201d McMahon said previously. <\/p>\n

When he realized officers had become suspicious, he then fled the station house but was apprehended soon after and later charged in the crash, The Advance\/SILive.com previously reported.<\/p>\n

Victims ID\u2019d as married couple<\/p>\n

In a previous statement, McMahon offered his own condolences to the victims\u2019 family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there\u2019s nothing we can do to bring back Kauser and Shahzad, we hope that the conclusion of this case brings peace and solace to their friends and loved ones,\u201d said the borough\u2019s top prosecutor. \u201cWe extend our deepest condolences to the entire Akhund family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 After being sentenced Tuesday in a 2021 crash that claimed the lives of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-108620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}