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Hasseem Jenkins refused bail for the murder of a case worker

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The Peekskill man accused of beating a Westchester social worker to death when she knocked on the wrong apartment door was denied bail Tuesday.

State Supreme Court Justice Anne Minihan concluded that Hasseem Jenkins should remain in the county jail awaiting trial because of his history of warrants, failure to appear in court, resisting arrest and use of false names Murder to wait.

Jenkins, 31, is in custody shortly after the May 14 attack on Maria Coto at 900 State St. in Peekskill, which police responded to because Coto managed to call 911. Jenkins allegedly took the phone from her and continued the attack. She tried to escape to another apartment. The 911 call was still active while he had the phone in his pocket and fought with the police.

Coto had arrived there to visit a customer but accidentally knocked on Jenkins' uncle's door. Jenkins, who was high on PCP at the time, allegedly hit her and stamped on her head with heavy boots. Coto suffered severe brain swelling and died from her injuries on June 19.

Jenkins pleaded not guilty in late July to charges of second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary.

The defense argued that Hasseem Jenkins was not a flight risk, but the judge disagreed

Defense attorney Angelo MacDonald, who was assigned to the case in late summer, asked for bail to be set on Tuesday. He stressed that Jenkins, a father of three, was not a flight risk because of his longstanding ties to the Peekskill community. Jenkins' mother, sister, uncle, fiancée and toddler were in court.

“He’s not going anywhere,” MacDonald told Minihan. “He lives here, he grew up here, he has family here.”

He said Jenkins also had mental health issues and suggested he might plead “involuntary intoxication,” but did not elaborate. This theory would argue that Jenkins had no intention of committing the crimes because he was unaware that he was under the influence of a drug or alcohol, although it would be difficult to argue whether Jenkins had intentionally taken PCP .

MacDonald acknowledged Jenkins had a criminal history but suggested it was “pretty minor and outdated.”

But Assistant District Attorney Nadine Nagler detailed a litany of Jenkins' crimes, highlighting 20 warrants issued for his arrest when he failed to appear in court, cases of bail jumping and cases of giving a false name to police, to avoid arrest, an arrest warrant; everything indicated that he was a flight risk.

She said Jenkins showed contempt for the justice system and law enforcement, including at times physically attacking people even when police were on scene.

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