Monticello man found guilty of Albany murder

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Albany County District Attorney's Office announced that Jonte Wunner of Monticello was found guilty of second-degree murder for the 2024 shooting death of Mohammed Poquee in Albany. Wunner pleaded not guilty last November.

Wunner was convicted of shooting Poquee with a handgun multiple times during a dispute at a party on October 20, 2024, in an Ida Yarborough Apartment on North Pearl Street. During the two-and-a-half-day trial, analysis of video surveillance footage revealed that Wunner fired five shots at Poquee during the incident, striking him twice.

Poquee, who was found to be unarmed at the time, later died from his injuries at Albany Medical Center. It was also determined that a child was in the vicinity when the shooting occurred.

Defense Attorney Salvatore Russo, while reviewing the surveillance footage, professed the argument that Wunner perceived a threat from Poquee during their altercation, saying "What I do know is that my client doesn't approach Mr. Poquee, he doesn’t even know Mr. Poquee. Mr. Poquee approaches him. When he makes a motion with his hands, that's interpreted by my client as his hands moving around his waistband. My client is not a human metal detector. He doesn’t have X-ray vision. What he's trying to do is not kill Mr. Poquee, what he is trying to do is end a confrontation."

"He [Wunner] knew there was a small child in that hallway, just a few feet away. This is a defendant who has no regard or value for human life," Assistant District Attorney Ryan Carty stated during the trial. "He didn’t care about firing a handgun in a small hallway of a residential building where a child was standing right in his path."

Wunner was additionally found guilty of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree reckless endangerment before Judge Thomas Marcelle on Thursday. He faces up to life in state prison. His sentencing is scheduled for June 30.