Darryl Littlejohn -- Murder of Imette St. Guillen, 24

Imette Saint-Guillen case prods city council to boost bar safety BY LUIS PEREZ Newsday Staff Writer April 12, 2006 Citing the brutal February slaying of Manhattan graduate student Imette Saint-Guillen, the City Council Tuesday proposed revamping security at city bars and clubs and ensuring that any law-breaking nightspots face stiff fines. "There is no enforcement," said Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn), standing with other elected officials outside The Falls bar in SoHo, where Saint-Guillen was last seen alive in the early morning of Feb. 25. "We need the city to make sure that bars have done what they are supposed to do." The State Liquor Authority, which licenses bars, restaurants, clubs and lounges, prohibits nightspots from hiring ex-felons to work as bouncers and issued weighty fines last year to 29 establishments statewide that did so. Darryl Littlejohn, 41, of South Jamaica, an ex-con who worked as a bouncer at The Falls, is charged with first-degree murder involving sexual abuse and second-degree murder in the death of Saint-Guillen, who was a student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The 24-year-old's nude body was found on the evening of Feb. 25, wrapped in a comforter and dumped in a remote area off the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. She had been raped, her feet bound, her mouth gagged and her head completely wrapped in tape, officials said. Littlejohn has pleaded not guilty. His employment at The Falls was at once a violation of his parole -- he has an extensive record of felony convictions and most recently served prison time for an armed bank robbery -- and a breach of the bar owner's license, officials have said. He is being held without bail. It was not clear Tuesday whether The Falls has faced penalties in relation to its employment of Littlejohn. The new penalties proposed by council members focus on employment of ex-cons and would allow the city to levy a $5,000 fine against a bar or club for a first offense and double that for a second offense. Existing state penalties include license revocation, a $10,000 fine, and a two-year ban from re-licensing. In addition to the fines, the council members proposed expanding the department's Paid Detail Unit -- a program that allows off-duty officers to work as private security at such venues as Yankee Stadium -- to include bars and restaurants. At a recent City Council hearing, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly expressed some reservations about using off-duty police officers to patrol bars and restaurants. A department spokesman did not immediately comment Tuesday. Prosecutors have called Littlejohn "a person of interest" in several other crimes, including several rapes in Queens and one on Long Island. A law enforcement source said Tuesday that no charges have been filed in those cases, which remain open. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/am-secu0412,0,7322770.story?coll=ny-nycnews-headlines

'IMETTE'S LAW' FOR BOUNCERS By STEPHANIE GASKELL April 12, 2006 -- In the wake of the murder of grad student Imette St. Guillen, local lawmakers said yesterday they want the city to do its own background checks on bouncers because they say the current state law isn't being enforced. Two City Council members introduced a bill yesterday that if made law would require background checks for anyone working the door at a bar. State law requires background checks, but City Councilman Alan Gerson - whose district includes The Falls, the bar where St. Guillen was last seen alive - said that "clearly, the current system is not working." "Had this been done, Imette St. Guillen would have been in all likelihood alive today," he told reporters outside The Falls. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/66857.htm

Posted on Wed, Apr. 26, 2006 NYC bouncer said accused in new slaying TOM HAYS Associated Press NEW YORK - A bouncer charged in the brutal slaying of a graduate student is facing new charges that he tried to abduct another college student last year in Queens, a law enforcement official said Wednesday. Darryl Littlejohn was expected to be arraigned Thursday morning on the new charges, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the indictment was still sealed. The Queens district attorney's office said it would announce an indictment Thursday in connection with the abduction of a York College student on Oct. 19, 2005, but declined to identify the defendant. A telephone call to Littlejohn's lawyer was not immediately returned Wednesday. The law enforcement official said Littlejohn, 41, had been linked to the attempted abduction of a 19-year-old woman who told investigators she was approached by a man driving a blue van. The official said that the attacker - carrying handcuffs and wearing a blue law enforcement baseball cap - forced the woman into the van, but that she later jumped out and escaped. Littlejohn pleaded not guilty last month to murdering Imette St. Guillen. The defendant, a parolee with a long criminal history, was working at a SoHo bar where the graduate student was last seen alive. St. Guillen's body was found dumped in a desolate section of Brooklyn on Feb. 25 after she was raped, strangled and suffocated. Investigators said DNA evidence linked Littlejohn to blood found on ties that were used to bind St. Guillen's hands. http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/14436575.htm

IMETTE'S FAMILY TO SUE BOUNCER'S BAR GRIEVING MOM'S JUSTICE CRUSADE May 12, 2006 -- The family of slain criminal-justice student Imette St. Guillen - vowing a relentless crusade for justice - plans to sue the bar owners who hired the ex-con bouncer accused of abducting and brutally killing the vivacious young beauty. They also are targeting state and federal agencies that were supposed to be supervising the bouncer, who was on parole on an armed-robbery rap at the time of the bloodshed. The family has hired high-powered lawyer Joseph Tacopina, who says he will file an array of civil "notices of claim" next week. One of them will cite the trendy SoHo bar The Falls, where three-time loser Darryl Littlejohn guarded the door. Tacopina also plans to sue The Falls' owner, who is not identified in the papers. Previous reports have said the tavern is owned by John and Michael Dorrian, as well as Daniel Dorrian, who was tending bar that night. Tacopina and the family's Boston-based lawyer, Chris Lang, said the notices don't mention the dollar amount that will be sought; they have to be filed to protect their right to sue later. The family insists money is not the point. Maureen St. Guillen, the young woman's mother, told The Post the family wants to see changes in the law to fix cracks in a porous system that allowed Littlejohn to be hired in the first place. "We can not undo what was done to Imette," her mother said in an exclusive interview. "But we cannot let that stop us from trying to help other people by getting regulatory and legislative changes so that people are accountable for what they do, or what they don't do." State law bans the hiring of convicted felons as bouncers, but doesn't require bar owners to do background checks on prospective employees. The family, already scheduling meetings with state lawmakers, wants a legal requirement for background checks - at bar owners' expense. "Change is needed here and if people ask at what cost, I say, 'What cost, or amount of money, can you put on your child's life?' " she said. "I would not want anyone else to go through this. It is the worst possible thing imaginable." The family also is calling for increased funding to hire more parole officers to reduce their workload, for enhanced communication and technology so that various agencies can easily and quickly share information, and for the installation of surveillance cameras outside bars. Imette, a 24-year-old John Jay College honors student, vanished early on the morning of Feb. 25; she was last seen hours earlier at The Falls. Her nude body, wrapped in a blanket and tied with clear packing tape, was found that night in a desolate section of Brooklyn. During the early stages of the NYPD investigation, Daniel Dorrian allegedly failed to tell detectives all he knew about Imette's movements before she disappeared. Days later, he finally divulged to police that Imette did not leave alone - and that bouncer Littlejohn was the last person with her. Two weeks after the slaying, Littlejohn was formally charged with her killing after his DNA was linked to the crime. It marked the second time in 20 years a bar owned by the Dorrian clan has figured into a high-profile slaying. Dorrian's Red Hand was the last stop for Jennifer Levin before she was brutally beaten in Central Park by Robert Chambers in the notorious 1986 "Preppy Murder." Maureen St. Guillen said employers need to be more vigilant. "When you go for a job interview, I can't understand, you put down your reference and someone should check your background for any job you apply for," she noted. "That is a very basic thing that should be done. And they need to get all the answers they need before hiring someone. "And it goes beyond restaurants and bars. It goes to schools. It goes to everyone's basic security. Whenever you hire anyone, they should be checked out fully, to anyone who deals with young adults, children. People need to be more responsible in terms of hiring." Imette's mom believes her daughter's death connected with so many people because they recognized Imette's goodness and that she was the kind of daughter everyone wished they had. She said her family only recently turned their attention to the loopholes and foul-ups that contributed to Imette's death, as they were consumed initially with her loss. "The grieving process does not get any easier and it gets more difficult as you try to seek some positive changes," she said. Maureen St. Guillen said she had never been concerned about her daughter living in the Big Apple - and doesn't blame the city for her loss now. The Boston native came to New York in August 2004 to study forensic psychology at John Jay. "I think New York is the place to be and I love the way New Yorkers are resilient and make themselves stronger," she added. "And I don't think New York is any less safe than any other area." murray.weiss@nypost.com http://www.nypost.com/commentary/63613.htm

A Crime Victim Is Missing From a Criminal Justice Graduation Ruby Washington/The New York Times By COREY KILGANNON Published: June 6, 2006 The commencement booklet yesterday had the logo of John Jay College of Criminal Justice embossed in cheery gold and blue. Its 32 pages listed the usual optimistic material: honorary degrees, Latin terms and long, formal titles. But the very last words in the program were a somber reminder of a brutal crime in February that shook New York City. "Posthumous," it read, after the list of 2,400 receiving degrees. "Imette Carmella Saint Guillen." The lines were slipped in at the end of the program as if to give them a respectful distance from the cheerier proceedings for the class of 2006. Few of those at the commencement, held at Madison Square Garden, needed a reminder that one of their classmates, Ms. St. Guillen, 24, was abducted and murdered on Feb. 25 after drinking alone at the Falls, a bar in SoHo. Few were not aware that her naked body, wrapped in a quilted comforter and tied with clear packing tape, was found dumped in a desolate section of Brooklyn. Prosecutors have charged Darryl Littlejohn, 41, a bouncer with a long criminal record who worked at the bar. Ms. St. Guillen, who had come to New York to pursue a career in criminal justice, was an honor student three months away from graduating. Yesterday, her mother, Maureen, and sister, Alejandra, stepped up on the stage and accepted her degree. The crowd was on its feet, and cheered heartily when Maureen St. Guillen held up a photograph of her slain daughter. Alejandra, 29, who was wearing the yellow sash her sister would have worn, wept uncontrollably. "This was a very tough day for the family," said Joseph Tacopina, a lawyer for the St. Guillens. "It was second only to the day they first found out what happened to Imette." "Their biggest concern was that the students didn't have their moment taken from them, by the celebrity of the moment, if you will," he said. By and large, it was not. The ceremony had all the celebration and cheering of any commencement. The women had their hair done and wobbled in on uncomfortable shoes. Some of the men wore cool shades over their eyes. Many students had vocal cheering sections. Ms. St. Guillen's mother and sister sat in the front row of Section 156, slightly apart from cheering parents with cameras and flowers and balloons. One graduating student, Madeline Saint-Cyr, 35, said she had not known Imette, but added: "I think she was here in spirit. I think it's right that her family came to be part of this day. They would have been in this auditorium and seen her cross that stage. But it's sad that, instead, they were up there with only her picture." Ms. Saint-Cyr earned a degree in forensic psychology, a subject that Imette St. Guillen had studied. "It's so ironic," she said. "She was studying to fight crime and catch people like this bouncer. That's what's so tragic about it." She added, "A lot of the women here looked at it like, 'It could have been one of us.' " http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/nyregion/06graduate.html

NYC bar where Imette was last seen alive padlocked by police By Michele McPhee Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief Saturday, June 10, 2006 New York police padlocked the trendy Manhattan bar that employed the parolee accused of killing Boston Latin graduate Imette St. Guillen last night, saying that the bar had accrued several license violations. The Falls, on Lafayette Street in Soho, was shuttered under the nuisance abatement statutes, which allows cops to shutter problematic bars. Throughout 2005 and 2006, the bar has been the subject of numerous calls to police complaining of excessive noise, disorderly conditions and reports of crime inside and in the vicinity of the business, said Detective Brian Sessa, a NYPD spokesman. “This has resulted in an increased amount of police activity at the establishment.” St. Guillen, 24, was last seen at The Falls in the early-morning hours of Feb. 25 and left the bar in the company of bouncer Darryl Littlejohn, 41, police and prosecutors said. Her naked, brutalized body was found later that afternoon on a desolate Brooklyn block. Littlejohn has been linked to her slaying through his DNA and forensic evidence that includes carpet fibers recovered at his home, NYPD officials have said. He also is facing charges in connection with the 2005 kidnapping and sexual assault of another woman snatched from a street not far from the bouncer’s Queens home. http://news.bostonherald.com/stGuillenMurder/view.bg?articleid=142956

Imette photos troubling for lawyer Not even Darryl Littlejohn's attorney wants to see the gory crime photos of slain coed Imette St. Guillen. "It's going to be difficult for me to look at them," said Kevin O'Donnell, the attorney for the ex-con bouncer charged in the brutal February slaying of the brilliant John Jay College of Criminal Justice graduate student. O'Donnell received the crime photos in a box of materials handed over by prosecutor Ken Taub in the case against Littlejohn, who was indicted for first-degree murder. He faces up to life without the possibility of parole if convicted of escorting St. Guillen from a SoHo bar on Feb. 25, and then abducting her, sexually abusing her and killing her. Her mutilated, bound and taped body was found in an abandoned East New York, Brooklyn, lot 17 hours later. Littlejohn, dressed in black shirt and pants yesterday, did not speak. Meanwhile, Littlejohn also faces indictment in Queens for allegedly abducting and attempting to rape a York College student after a DNA match linked him to the Oct. 19 crime, law enforcement sources have said. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/431258p-363473c.html

Jul 3, 2006 11:43 pm US/Eastern First Interview With Imette St. Guillen's Family Mother And Sister Discuss Her Legacy Jim Rosenfield Reporting (CBS) BOSTON Just four months after Imette St. Guillen's murder, her mother and older sister spoke about how they were doing after When asked how she was functioning, Maureen St. Guillen answered "auto-pilot," since she stood in for her slain daughter at last month's John Jay College graduation. She said that the applause she received when picking up the diploma did her heart good. The graduation "was joyous and very sad because we were so looking forward to that," she said. Maureen St. Guillen saw her daughter becoming a professor, getting married, and having children. Imette "had such a zest for life," she said. The promising student's life was cut short on February 25th, after a night out with friends. Imette stayed downtown for one more stop at The Falls bar in SoHo. "She might have gone in there because there was a bouncer," Alejandra St.-Guillen, Imette's sister, said. "When you see someone working security, there's a level of security an establishment has." The bouncer, that night, was unlicensed ex-con Darryl Littlejohn, who was charged with Imette's brutal rape and murder. He denied the charges last March, saying "I'm truly, truly sorry what happened to this young lady, but they have the wrong person." "I don't say anything to that because I don't even address him,' Maurine St. Guillen said. Instead, Imette's mother and sister are trying to build a lasting legacy to Imette, including advocating for new state and local laws tightening loopholes in background checks for bouncers, and requiring all bars to install security cameras outside their establishments. "At the very least a camera would have given us a quicker lead as to the last bar she was at," Alejandra St. Guillen said. "If we can save one person, I think Imette would have wanted that." Another focus of theirs is to help raise funds for scholarships in Imette's name at John Jay College. The Boston Latin School, the oldest public school in the country and Imette's alma mater, is also starting a scholarship in her name. When asked why it was so important to her to see the scholarships established, Maurine St. Guillen said, "Because Imette was somebody. And her name has to go on." Imette's name is also engraved on a locket Mrs. St. Guillen never takes off. The pair also hold gatherings with friends and family in their Boston neighborhood on the 25th of every month, the day of Imette's murder. "Because the 25th, we have to bring love into that date and she was loved very much. I want that date to be, I want it to be different," Mrs. St. Guillen said. http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_184234549.html

Aug 17, 2006 11:27 am US/Eastern 'Imette's Law': N.Y. Bar Bouncers Must Be Licensed (CBS/AP) NEW YORK Bar bouncers in New York City must be licensed under a new law passed by the city council. The council approved the law yesterday in the wake of the killing Imette St. Guillen after she left a bar in SoHo in March. The bouncer at the bar, Darryl Littlejohn, has been charged with the 24-year-old woman's murder. Council Speaker Christine Quinn says bouncers are supposed to make customers feel safe. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he will sign the legislation into law. It is part of a package of bills to make bars and nightspots safer and clamp down on underage drinking. One aspect requires a bar to have one bouncer for every 75 patrons. The legislation require security cameras be installed at entrances and exits at all nightspots, and high tech ID scanners must be used to catch fake IDs. Another recent killing of a New Jersey teen was connected to a night of drinking at a Manhattan club. Jennifer Moore, 18, of Harrington Park, N.J., was killed when she was picked up on the West Side Highway after being separated from her friend. Her body was found in a New Jersey dumpster. http://wcbstv.com/local/local_story_229075603.html

Sep 8, 2006 5:37 pm US/Eastern Littlejohn Files Motion Requesting New Attorney Scott Weinberger Reporting (CBS) BROOKLYN Murder suspect Darryl Littlejohn filed a court motion Friday seeking to have his attorney removed, CBS 2 has confirmed. In the motion, filed in New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, Littlejohn seeks to dismiss Kevin O'Donnell from the case, although it is unclear why he is not satisfied with the representation he has received thus far. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 20, at which a judge is expected to appoint a new attorney. Littlejohn was charged early this year in the murder of graduate student Imette St. Guillen in Manhattan. He was later indicted in at least one sexual assault in Queens. That was in connection with an attack in the borough last year. St. Guillen, 24, was last seen alive in The Falls bar on the Bowery in Manhattan just before 4 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25. Later that day, an anonymous telephone caller directed police to a rubbish-filled side of the road where her body had been dumped. Littlejohn was working as a bouncer at the bar that night. In an exclusive March interview with CBS 2 from jail, Littlejohn said he was asked to escort St. Guillen out of the bar where she was drinking just before closing. Asked whether he killed St. Guillen, he said, “No, I did not.” At the time, his attorney, O’Donnell, said his client was being treated as a scapegoat because police couldn’t find the real killer. The Brooklyn District Attorney said cell phone records show Littlejohn was in the Brooklyn neighborhood where St. Guillen’s body was found about the time she was killed. A witness also reported seeing a van resembling one belonging to Littlejohn in the area, he said. Littlejohn said that after escorting St. Guillen out of the bar, he finished up his work and went home to Jamaica, Queens. St. Guillen was from Boston and had been attending graduate school at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. Her body was found with a sock stuffed in her mouth and her head wrapped with packaging tape. http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_251160604.html

IMETTE SUSPECT IN 'POVERTY' September 21, 2006 -- The case against the alleged killer of Imette St. Guillen involves so much scientific evidence that the accused bouncer doesn't have the cash for a proper defense, he said yesterday. Asking "that I be assigned new counsel," bouncer Darryl Littlejohn told a judge in Brooklyn Supreme Court that he had no funds and no bank account to continue to pay his current legal eagle, Kevin O'Donnell. O'Donnell already represents Littlejohn at taxpayer expense on a separate sex-assault case in Queens. But O'Donnell is not on the list of eligible public defenders for Brooklyn and he said the complexity of the case made it impossible for Littlejohn, 41, to pay him. "We both agreed that it would be better for him to have assigned counsel out here ," said O'Donnell. "It's an awful lot of work." He cited vast amounts of DNA, hair and fiber analysis and other physical evidence that would take six more months just to be processed by prosecutors - let alone be examined by the defense. Chambers said she would appoint a replacement in two weeks. alex.ginsberg@nypost.com http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/imette_suspect_in_poverty_regionalnews_alex_ginsberg.htm

BOUNCER BEAST CAN'T PICK ATT'Y. By PATRICK GALLAHUE October 6, 2006 -- The ex-con bouncer accused of killing grad student Imette St. Guillen lost an appeal yesterday to be represented by a high-profile Brooklyn lawyer and author, Joyce David - whose book he found in the jailhouse library. "Ms. David has expressed a genuine interest in my particular case," accused killer Darryl Littlejohn wrote to Judge Cheryl Chambers from Rikers Island last month. "I have a tremendous amount of confidence in her abilities to represent my best interests in this high-profile and extremely complicated case," he wrote. But Judge Chambers rejected his request on Wednesday, and said, "He does not have the right to choose a specific counsel." David is the author of "What You Should Know If You're Accused of a Crime," which, for obvious reasons, is a popular read on Rikers. "I believe he'd seen my book in the library," David told The Post. "So he wrote to me and I went to visit him." She described him as "soft-spoken" and "articulate" and she said she'd be willing to take the case if the judge appointed her - but she warned him, "It's unlikely the judge would appoint me just because he wanted." Littlejohn's previous lawyer, Kevin O'Donnell, stepped down. patrick.gallahue@nypost.com http://www.nypost.com/seven/10062006/news/regionalnews/bouncer_beast_cant_pick_atty__regionalnews_patrick_gallahue.htm

LAWYER 'LOSES' SLAY CASE By PATRICK GALLAHUE St. Guillen slay suspect.October 16, 2006 -- An outspoken lawyer who claims he was unfairly tossed off the high-profile case against an ex-con bouncer accused of murdering grad student Imette St. Guillen is threatening to sue the judge. Jeffrey Schwartz said he was selected as the court-appointed counsel to represent Daryl Littlejohn on Aug. 21 but received a call the next day yanking him off the case. Schwartz says he received a second call a week later, telling him he could work the case, which he estimates could be worth upward of $75,000 in fees. But the next day, he got a call from the panel's administrator, telling him he was off the case again because the presiding judge, Cheryl Chambers, had "had problems with him in the past," he claims. Schwartz said he hadn't appeared in Chambers' court since 2002, when he won what had been considered a "no-win" case. "I've never had problems with her, other than I won an acquittal," he said. A spokeswoman for the Office of Court Administration, Mai Yee, said, "He was not removed from the case," since he was never officially appointed as Littlejohn's attorney. patrick.gallahue@nypost.com http://www.nypost.com/seven/10162006/news/regionalnews/lawyer_loses_slay_case_regionalnews_patrick_gallahue.htm

Littlejohn 'hires' best-selling counsel The ex-bouncer accused in the savage slaying of Imette St. Guillen got the lawyer he wanted: the author of Rikers Island best seller "What You Should Know If You're Accused of a Crime." Darryl Littlejohn, who was initially rebuffed when he tried to get Joyce David assigned to his case, persuaded her to represent him for free. David said she will argue that he is innocent, targeted by cops anxious to make a quick arrest amid a media frenzy following the sexual assault and strangulation of the brainy 24-year-old John Jay School of Criminal Justice coed in February. St. Guillen's battered corpse was found, bound and beaten, on a deserted road in Brooklyn 17 hours after she disappeared after leaving the SoHo bar where Littlejohn worked. NYPD forensic experts allegedly have linked DNA, fibers and hairs on the body to Littlejohn. Littlejohn asked Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Chambers to appoint David to replace Queens attorney Kevin O'Donnell after he read her book in jail. But Chambers said he didn't get to choose because he isn't paying, and she appointed two defense lawyers Oct. 4. But David, who was the first female president of the Brooklyn Criminal Bar Association, said Littlejohn, 41, "got in touch again," and she relented. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/466915p-392799c.html

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