Inwood man testifies about childhood trauma as he seeks reduced sentence for killing mother's boyfriend in 2003

An Inwood man serving 25 years to life in prison for fatally shooting his mother’s boyfriend in 2003 during an argument in the family’s home took the witness stand on Monday in Nassau County Court in a bid to have his sentence reduced under a law that recognizes trauma suffered during domestic violence.

Tremaine Alexander, 44, recounted years of arguments and fights between his mother and her boyfriends that would often include him as well. He also admitted on the stand for the first time since his trial that he shot and killed his mother’s boyfriend, Frank Beamon, on Jan. 3, 2003.

Alexander petitioned the court under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, a 2019 law that allows judges to factor in the traumatic effects of domestic violence in sentencing. He’s eligible for parole in 2027.

On the stand on Monday, Alexander recounted his childhood spent navigating a series of his mother’s boyfriends who he said often engaged in psychological, physical and sexual abuse against her. He said he was also abused by the boyfriends.

"A lot of tension, because my mother," he said, describing his home life with his mom. "She didn’t pick the best men. Whatever happened to her would spill over to me."

When he was 6 or 7 years old, a boyfriend and his mother, Ella Isom, got in a fight during which the boyfriend attacked the mom, shoving her into an ironing board, Alexander said.

"He started to choke my mother," he told the court. "I tried to get him off, but I was too little, so I bit him."

Alexander’s mother threw a hot iron at that boyfriend, but it missed, ricocheted off a cabinet and hit Alexander in the arm. He said he still carries the scar from where the iron burned him.

 There were other instances of abuse, like the night the same boyfriend demanded sex from the mother while Alexander slept on the floor in the room.

"She didn’t agree with it," Alexander said, breaking down in tears. "I remember she kept saying ‘My son is in the room. My son is in the room.’"

Alexander said that boyfriend kicked the mother and son out of the house and they walked 20 blocks to Alexander's grandmother’s house.

Another long-term boyfriend attacked the man’s car with a Club anti-car theft device in a fit of jealousy and pulled his mother out of the passenger seat by her hair.

Alexander tried to help his mother, but he said he was ultimately helpless as he watched the man drag his mother into their home by her hair. 

In 2002, Isom moved in with Beamon, who Alexander said also argued frequently with his mother, though he said he never saw any domestic violence in the household.

On Jan. 3, 2003, Alexander said he was awakened during a nap by the sound of his mother arguing with Beamon.

"It was a situation where this wasn’t supposed to happen," he said, recounting the argument. "This cannot happen again. I’m still dealing with men who cannot treat [my mother] right. I just wanted him to stop yelling. I just wanted him to leave the situation alone."

At this point, Alexander, a grown man in his early 20s, faced off against Beamon, demanding that he stand down.

He said Beamon pushed him in the face and the two men began to struggle. The man got on top of Alexander and began pressing a metal pole into Alexander’s throat.

"I thought I was going to die," he said.

Isom hit Beamon twice with a kitchen chair, breaking up the struggle, Alexander said. He then went to his car to get his gun and then shot Beamon in the back five times.

"I killed Mr. Beamon," he said. He also admitted kicking him while he lay wounded on the ground.

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office opposes adjusting his punishment, calling his claims "self-serving." Prosecutors argued his claims do not meet the threshold for a sentence reduction under the act. They said that he failed to meet the law’s requirement of two pieces of corroborating evidence of prior abuse. He lied on the witness stand during his trial when he denied killing Beamon, prosecutors said. And they cite years of behavioral issues while incarcerated, including fights with prison staff and weapons possession.

Alexander "implies that the altercation with Beamon triggered him to the point that he committed the murder because his history of abuse years earlier," prosecutors wrote in their opposing briefs. "But the purpose of the [Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act] is not to give the victims of adolescent abuse license to commit unrelated crimes as adults, without having to face the usual penological consequences."

The case continues on Tuesday.