Hewlett’s Keith Pooler sentenced in Hempstead stabbing

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More than two years after Hewlett resident Keith Pooler stabbed Andre Garry at a Hempstead intersection, Pooler, who was convicted of murder during an eight-day trial in May, was sentenced to 25 years to life on Oct. 7.

At the intersection of Terrance and Fulton avenues on June 28, 2020 at 9 p.m., Pooler, 56, and Garry, then 49, argued. During the argument, Pooler pulled out a 5-inch steak knife and stabbed Garry in the heart, according to the facts presented at trial.

Garry collapsed and was taken to NYU Langone Hospital in Mineola, where he was pronounced dead. Pooler dropped the knife and fled the scene. Police found the knife and arrested Pooler on July 11 of that year.

“Keith Pooler senselessly too Andre Garry’s life during a street corner fight, driving a steak knife into the victim’s heart,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a news release. ‘With today’s jail sentence, Pooler will pay for this terrible crime and his violence will no longer be a threat to the Hempstead community.”