Defendant Pleaded Guilty to Strangulation
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Rikers Island inmate has
been sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree Strangulation in the
2018 death of a fellow inmate.
District Attorney Clark said, “In an unprovoked attack in front of several people, the
defendant approached the 35-year-old victim and put him in a chokehold, triggering a fatal
asthma attack. This was a senseless death. We must continue to do all we can to make our jails
safe for anyone who must be there.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Artemio Rosa, 28, an inmate at Rikers Island,
was sentenced to eight years in prison by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Steven Hornstein. Rosa
pleaded guilty to first-degree Strangulation on July 24, 2019.
According to the investigation, on July 9, 2018 in the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers
Island, the defendant approached fellow inmate Casey Holloway and put him in a chokehold for
approximately 30 seconds. This caused Holloway to have an asthma attack, and the victim was
pronounced dead at the scene shortly afterwards.
District Attorney Clark thanked the New York City Department of Correction and the
New York Police Department for their assistance in the investigation.
