{"id":343697,"date":"2026-09-11T06:47:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/343697\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T06:47:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:47:02","slug":"devious-and-manipulative-brooklyn-gunman-gets-life-without-parole-for-high-end-sneaker-rob-slay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/343697\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Devious and manipulative’ Brooklyn gunman gets life without parole for high-end sneaker rob slay"},"content":{"rendered":"

A manipulative gunman who executed a man<\/a> over a high-end sneaker sale, then pretended to help police and his family with the investigation, will spend the rest of his life behind bars, a Brooklyn judge ruled Thursday.<\/p>\n

Hakeem Smith, 31, even contemplated pinning the blame on his own father as police were investigating the murder of 30-year-old Douglas Young on Feb. 6, 2020, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice John Hecht<\/a> said yesterday before passing sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were not just heartless, but also devious and manipulative. The detectives trusted you. They went down investigatory rabbit holes at your direction. The family believed you,\u201d Hecht said. \u201cYour strategy to cast blame on others reached its climax when you appallingly suggested that your own father take the blame for this crime and die in prison because he had less life to lose than you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A jury found Smith guilty of murder and arson last month. Hecht sentenced him Thursday to life without parole for the murder, plus another 5 to 15 years of consecutive time for the arson.<\/p>\n

\"DouglasDouglas Young (pictured) was murdered on Feb. 6, 2020. (Courtesy of Family)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was all this for? A pair of sneakers. How shameful!\u201d the judge said. \u201cYour lies and elaborate deceptions show how little you regard other people and the social bonds that unite us. I really fear that there is no amount of time in prison that will rehabilitate you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young flew from Georgia to New York to sell Smith 11 pairs of high-end sneakers, valued at a total of $31,150. The kicks included a pair of Nike Dunk SB Low What the Dunk that resells for $9,346, and a\u00a0 Jordan 1 Retro Fragment Friends, Family that resells for $8,900.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s family told the Daily News in 2020<\/a> that he put himself through college and built up a lucrative sneaker business.<\/p>\n

He and Smith had done business before and had planned to return to Georgia after the deal was done, Assistant D.A. Steven Bravo said in a sentencing letter to the judge.<\/p>\n

Young parked his rental car opposite a building on Court St. in Red Hook, and waited for Smith. The judge pointed out that Smith scoped out the location in advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou arranged to meet Douglas after dark, although he wanted to meet you earlier, and was trying to meet you all day,\u201d Hecht said.<\/p>\n

\"AA burned car is pictured on Court St. and Bay St. in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020. Douglas Young was found dead inside. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Young showed Smith the sneakers, and Smith shot him three times in the back of the head, as the unwitting victim sat in his car\u2019s passenger seat, the trial established.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll three bullets were independently fatal,\u201d Bravo wrote.<\/p>\n

Smith didn\u2019t call 911. Instead, he moved in and out of the car, then walked away with bags full of the sneakers.<\/p>\n

The next day, he pretended to help Young\u2019s family search for him, lying to them about meeting him near Barclays Center and watching him drive away to meet someone else. He claimed they never made the sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe even offered to help file a missing-person report,\u201d Bravo wrote.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 8, Smith went back to the crime scene, where the rental car was still parked, with Young\u2019s body still inside. He lit the car ablaze.<\/p>\n

\"AA burned car is pictured on Court St. and Bay St. in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020. Douglas Young was found dead inside. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

He then gave his fake account of seeing Young drive off to detectives, offering names of possible suspects, and giving a detective a fake screenshot showing Young called him the afternoon of the murder.<\/p>\n

Months later, when police searched his phone, they found writings describing what should happen if his case was \u201cnot winnable,\u201d along with a strategy where his father would \u201cconfess to the crime,\u201d Bravo wrote.<\/p>\n

At trial, Smith came up with an entirely different strategy \u2014 he admitted to his lies, but said Young pulled a gun on him and attacked him with a box-cutter, and he shot Young in self defense. The physical evidence didn\u2019t back up his newly concocted story, and the jury didn\u2019t buy it.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s sentence holds this defendant accountable for taking the life of Douglas Young, an innocent man who was senselessly and deliberately killed by someone he knew and trusted,\u201d Brooklyn D.A. Eric Gonzalez said Thursday. \u201cThe defendant then took elaborate steps to cover up his heinous crime. Young\u2019s family, friends, and community are heartbroken by his loss, and my thoughts are with them today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith had no attorneys at his sentencing. He made a statement claiming his constitutional rights were violated and that he didn\u2019t get due process or a speedy trial.<\/p>\n

The judge heard statements from two of Young\u2019s cousins as the victim\u2019s father sat in the courtroom to watch the proceedings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is difficult to put into words what the loss of Douglas has done to me,\u201d his cousin, Latrice McTeer, told the judge Thursday. \u201cI\u2019ve been by his side since the day he was born. He\u2019s my best friend. Being forced to live with his absence is a struggle for me every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cNothing that happens in this courtroom today can undo what happened to Douglas or bring him back, but I want the court to understand the consequences of what was done to Douglas did not end on the day Douglas was murdered.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a written statement, another cousin, Cashawn Davis, described Young as a \u201cpositive role model for the younger generation of our family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDouglas would spend time with my son and his cousin at his sneaker store in Atlanta,\u201d Davis said. \u201cHe used that opportunity to teach them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A manipulative gunman who executed a man over a high-end sneaker sale, then pretended to help police and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,128814,100,99,9,24,63,103,31321],"class_list":["post-343697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-courts","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-sneakers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343697","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=343697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}