Anthony Mitchell was convicted on Oct. 29 in a verdict that found him guilty of murder and attempted murder in the July 8, 2022 shooting death of Treynahel Cineus in Spring Valley. The jury also acquitted him of criminal possession of a weapon.
Mitchell, 27, was convicted after a three-week trial in Rockland County Court. He faces a minimum of 15 years to life and a maximum of 25 years to life when he is sentenced on Dec. 23.
Meadowlanes apartment complex
Prosecutors said Mitchell and other suspects opened fire on Cineus as he and his aunt parked their car at the Meadowlanes apartment complex. Cineus’s aunt survived the shooting, and Cineus later succumbed to his injuries after being rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital.
The split verdict shows how juries can separate charges tied to the same event. A conviction on murder and attempted murder means the panel accepted the proof that led to the shooting death, while the weapon count did not persuade every juror in the same way. That distinction can change the sentencing exposure even when the facts arise from one incident.
Thomas E Walsh II
District Attorney Thomas E. Walsh II said he hoped the verdict gives Cineus’s loved ones a sense of closure. “A 17-year-old boy’s life was stolen in a senseless act of gun violence, leaving a family to endure a loss that no verdict can ever undo,” he said. “While nothing can bring Treynahel back to his family, I hope this verdict provides them with some measure of justice and peace.”
The case had already put Mitchell before the court earlier this year, when he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for enticement and coercion of a minor. Prosecutors said he manipulated a girl into sending sexually explicit photographs of herself when she was 13 and 14 years old. The Dec. 23 sentencing will determine whether the murder case adds a much longer term on top of that prison time.
