New Rochelle Father Sentenced In The Killing Of His Son

Written By: Talk of the Sound News

Richard leakWHITE PLAINS, NY — Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced that Richard “Ricky” Leak (DOB 10/03/80) of 345 Main Street, New Rochelle, New York was sentenced today to a determinate term of twenty years in prison on his March 2013 conviction after a jury trial of:

one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree, a class “B” Felony

relating to the January 9th 2011 death of his two year old son Khalil Leak.

At approximately 1 am on January 9th, 2011, the defendant called his live in girlfriend who was not at home and reported that the victim was not breathing. The girlfriend then called a downstairs neighbor and asked her to check on the victim.

The neighbor went upstairs and after finding the victim unresponsive in the defendant’s apartment, dialed 911 calling for an ambulance.

The two year old child was removed by Transcare Ambulance EMT’s to Sound Shore Medical Center where he was pronounced dead about one hour later.

Police initiated an investigation into the death and on January 12th, 2011 the defendant was arrested.

“Extensive detective and forensic pathology work by both the New Rochelle Police Department and the Westchester County Medical Examiner were instrumental in the conviction and ultimate sentence that this defendant received. The severity of the injuries, along with multiple and conflicting stories as to how the child sustained those fatal injuries, belied the defendant’s protestations that his own son’s death was just “an accident”,” said District Attorney Janet DiFiore.

The defendant was sentenced as a predicate violent felony offender.

Assistant District Attorney Heide Mason, Bureau Chief of the Child Abuse Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Christine Hatfield Deputy Chief of the Child Abuse Bureau, prosecuted the case.

WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
NEWS RELEASE
111 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
White Plains, New York 10601
(914) 995-3586
(914) 995-2116 Fax