Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced that Donald Young (DOB: 11/17/88), formerly of 55 Commerford Street, Providence, was found guilty by a Providence County Superior Court jury in the 2009 murder of Kasean Benton. Young was found guilty of 1st degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, use of a firearm during a crime of violence, assault with a dangerous weapon, and possession of a firearm without a license.
The verdict came just four hours after the conclusion of a 10-day trial, presided over by Superior Court Justice Robert D. Krause.
Donald Young, Kasean Benton, and Torell Soko were associated with rival gangs in the City of Providence. Young and others were referred to as “Comstock;” Benton and Soko associated with a group called “YNIC.”
Just before sunset on July 12, 2009, Torell Soko went out to meet with friend Kasean Benton, who had pulled up in front of 30 Trask Street, where Soko’s grandfather and aunt lived. As the two friends sat and talked in Benton’s car, Soko noticed three men, including old rival Donald Young, walking in the middle of the road toward the car. Soko saw a gun in Young’s hand. As the three men walked toward the car, Young lifted his arm and fired directly at the automobile, hitting the windshield.
Soko and Benton fled the car. Soko was grazed by a bullet in his side while running down Trask Street in a hail of bullets. Benton was found dead behind a stockade fence in the rear yard of 30 Trask Street. Autopsy revealed that Benton died from a single gunshot wound. A bullet recovered from Benton’s chest was fired from the same gun that fired the bullet found in the windshield of Benton’s car, according to Robert Hathaway, a firearms and tool mark examiner.
Several neighbors heard the gunshots and saw men running down the street. Soko’s grandfather who ran outside after hearing what he thought were fireworks, saw three black males running like “thunder” diagonally away from his house.
Shortly after the shooting, Torell Soko returned to his worried family in front of 30 Trask Street and uttered to them, “it was Donald.”
A cell phone found along the fleeing gunmen’s path was shown to be that of Young’s cousin Quamell Young and contained the defendant’s phone number in the phone’s rolodex. Cell phone records of the defendant and testimony also showed a time gap between calls during the shooting, preceded by several calls from one of his girlfriends - DaSharna Crudup. Young was apprehended the next day at Crudup’s apartment.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Randy White and Special Assistant Attorney General Jim Baum. Detective Emilio Matos of the Providence Police Department led the investigation. No other arrests in the matter have been made at this time.
Young will remain in custody at the ACI until sentencing.