Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been
sentenced to 21 years in prison for fatally shooting a 40-year-old man in 2016, and for a separate
case involving an assault on a Department of Correction Officer on Rikers Island in 2018.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant shot and killed the victim, who leaves
behind a 6-year-old-daughter. The defendant continued to commit violence while he was held
on Rikers Island by slashing a Department of Correction Officer who was trying to protect him
during a fight among prisoners.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Elijah Moody, 24, of 1595 Odell Street, was
sentenced today by Bronx Supreme Court Justice James McCarty to 21 years in prison and five
years post-release supervision for first-degree Manslaughter. He was sentenced to three and a
half years in prison and three years post-release supervision for Attempted Assault in the
first-degree. Both sentences will run concurrently. The defendant pleaded guilty to the
charges on January 8, 2019 before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Barry E. Warhit.
According to the investigation, on August 3, 2016, in front of 2214 Glebe Avenue, the
defendant shot Vivian Connell, 40, causing his death. Prior to the shooting, the victim had gone
to buy a money order to pay his rent, but was unable to purchase it because he did not have
identification. Connell then went to a bodega. Moody, in concert with other defendants, followed
Connell and pulled a gun on him. The victim ran away and was shot in the back. As he lay
wounded, Moody and his accomplices stole Connell’s rent money from his pockets. Connell was
taken to Jacobi Medical Center and died shortly after. Moody was arrested several days later.
The cases against the other defendants are still pending.
According to the investigation, on July 13, 2018, while detained at the Anna M. Kross
Center on Rikers Island, Moody slashed a Department of Correction Officer on the left side of
his face with a sharp object. The victim was trying to remove Moody from the area after a fight broke out among prisoners, to keep him safe.
District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detective Jose Ortiz of the 45th Precinct, Bronx
Homicide Detectives Earnest Dorvil and Christine Reyes, and Investigators Scott Frank and
Anthony Marano of DOC Correction Intelligence for their assistance in the investigation.
