Shah Powell (center, in tan jumpsuit) at his sentencing hearing on Jan. 8 (Syracuse.com)
A New York man who was kidnapped and tortured by a former friend provided testimony that put his captor away for decades.
Shah Powell, 36, was convicted of kidnapping and torture last month, two years after he held Jhomiel Brown hostage in a shed in DeWitt, in upstate New York, and viciously tortured him. Brown testified at trial, recounting his violent ordeal at the hands of Powell.
In courtroom coverage by local news outlet Syracuse.com, Brown told the court that on Sept. 24, 2023, Powell beat him with metal poles, bit him, and burned him with cigarettes. While he was unconscious, Powell duct-taped Brown's wrists to his ankles.
But the most horrifying detail Brown described in court was how Powell pulled out his two front teeth with pliers. In a "grotesque moment of necessity," Brown said he got his hands on one of his extracted teeth and used it to saw through the duct tape, which gave him the ability to escape.
Powell also took the stand and testified that Brown's injuries were due to a fistfight the men had over a drug deal. Prosecutors said he lied while under oath.
Before sentencing, prosecutors stated that Powell was "a man who was not at all prepared to accept what he did to another human being." When Powell heard the guilty verdict against him, he "lost his cool" and punched a wall.
Before going to trial, Powell rejected a plea deal that would have sentenced him to 10 years in prison. His defense attorneys asked the judge not to impose a longer sentence because he opted to go to trial. The judge was unmoved by the request, saying, "This sentence is not punishing Mr. Powell for going to trial. It is punishing Mr. Powell for the completely barbaric assault on Mr. Brown."
Powell was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
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