Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that 39-year-old Mount Vernon resident Negus Kirton was sentenced on August 12, 2022, to 25 years to life in state prison following his July conviction for the 2020 murder of Michael Toro.
On May 5, 2020, at approximately 1:45 a.m., Kirton chased Toro, a 21-year-old Mount Vernon resident, on Darling Avenue in Mount Vernon and shot him in the back and head. Kirton then approached Toro, who was laying on the ground, and shot him again. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Mount Vernon Police Department arrested Kirton on October 2, 2020, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, following a joint investigation. Criminal Investigators from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office assisted in the investigation.
After a weeklong trial in June 2022, a jury found Kirton guilty of Murder in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, both violent felonies.
The case was before Judge Robert Neary in Westchester County Court, and was prosecuted by Deputy Bureau Chief Dan Flecha and Assistant District Attorney Michael Callan.
