A violent parolee who killed a beloved Brooklyn liquor-store clerk was sentenced to 35 years in prison today.
Eion Klass, 36, had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter and robbery for the 2010 killing of Yoseph Robinson at his shop in Midwood.
Robinson, 34, was shot three times during a struggle with a robber at MB Vineyards, where he worked when he wasn’t lecturing about Judaism and studying the Torah.
The clerk was a former small-time criminal and record label worker who converted to Orthodox Judaism over 10 years ago.
“Your senseless cowardly act cost us way too much,” Robinson’s girlfriend, Lahavah Wallace wrote in a victim impact statement. “[Yoseph] ran the streets but left that alone to make something of himself.”
“When you walked in that night you stopped being a man, but Yoseph never will. I pity you. Enjoy the rest of the miserable existence you think is a life.”
Robinson was behind the store's counter, chatting with Wallace and a friend, when Klass, wearing a mask, entered and demanded money and jewelry.
Wallace handed over her jewelry, but Robinson lunged across the counter, and struggled with Klass, who shot him.
Judge Neil Firetog sentenced Klass to 25 years for the shooting and 10 years for the robbery.
NY POST