A hardened three-time accused killer sentenced to 75 years in prison for gunning down a young man at a Queens New Year’s Eve celebration five years ago ended up ducking his victim’s family at his sentencing Friday by refusing to step into the courtroom.
“You can’t sit here for a sentence!” Jonathan Cato, 25, screamed out after Richard Swygert refused to stand before a judge and be sentenced for the Jan. 1, 2021, murder of Robert DeAndre Williams.
“That’s why we’re all here! The man of the hour! You did it. You got convicted. Take your consequences like a man!”
Swygert, 24, was attending a party at the now-closed Umbrella Hotel on Jamaica Ave. in Kew Gardens — which is across the street from Queens Criminal Court — just after 1 a.m. when he and one of his companions got into an argument with another group that included Williams and Cato.
As the argument heated up, Swygert, who lived in the Bronx, pulled a gun and sprayed the group with bullets.
Thirteen shots were fired, officials said. Williams, lovingly known as “Dre” by his family and friends, died after Swygert shot him five times, prosecutors said. Cato was hit six times, but survived. A third victim was also shot in the thigh.
“I could sit here and talk about my injuries and surgeries, but it’s not about me. It’s about Dre,” Cato told Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant at the sentencing.
Williams would have celebrated his 21st birthday the next day if he had survived, friends and family said.
The three victims “had never done anything to (Swygert),” Queens Assistant District Attorney Kenella Georgopoulos told the judge. “This defendant killed for the sake of killing and he wanted to kill as many people as he could.”
Courtesy of family
Robert Williams, 21, was shot and killed in Kew Gardens, Queens, on Jan. 1, 2021. Richard Swygert was sentenced for the killing on May 22, 2026. (Courtesy of family)
At the time of the shooting, the Umbrella Hotel was known as a hotbed for violence and drug activity, officials said.
Swygert was arrested for the New Year’s morning shooting that October, 10 months after the murder, officials said.
When he was charged with Williams’ murder, he was already locked up on murder charges for allegedly gunning down Dominick Malivert inside a Queens karaoke bar on Aug. 13, 2021.
He’s also been linked to the June 7, 2021, shooting death of 47-year-old ex-con Darius Guillebeaux in South Jamaica. Rapper Remy Ma’s son, Jayson Scott, was also arrested for taking part in that killing.
Swygert’s other two murder cases were pending, prosecutors said.
Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News
Police investigate after Dominick Malvert was fatally shot on 138th St. in Queens on Aug. 13, 2021. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
The Jan. 1, 2021, shooting Swygert committed was “the first homicide of that year,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
“The bullets he unleashed killed one young man, critically injured another and left a third seriously wounded,” Katz said in a statement. “We cannot normalize gun violence. A jury convicted the defendant of murder, and he was sentenced today to 75 years to life in prison as a direct consequence of his criminal actions.”
At Friday’s sentencing, Judge Pandit-Durant called Williams’ killing “the ultimate senseless shooting” as she ordered Swygert imprisoned for 75 years for murder and several counts of attempted murder and assault.
“This man Mr. Swygert took a life,” the judge said. “That person will never have an opportunity to be rehabilitated. Mr. Swygert should have the same fate.”
Swygert’s attorney Edward Muccini was surprised his client refused to leave his holding cell just before the sentencing.
“He told me he did not want to come out for the sentencing,” Muccini said. “I’ve never seen him act like this. During the trial Mr. Swygert was a gentleman.”
Wearing a T-shirt with a collage of different images of her beloved son, Robyn Williams, DeAndre’s mom, said her child was an exceptional student and athlete.
“DeAndre was a scholar…He was in the honor society,” she said. “We have countless awards and trophies.”
“January 1, 2021, was the most traumatic day of my life,” Williams told the judge. “I wasn’t there to protect him from Richard Swygert and his cronies that night. I now suffer PTSD. I wake up every day in pain.”
Rebecca White / New York Daily News
Robert Deandre Williams’ brother, Pharris Williams, right, hugs shooting survivor Jonathan Cato at Queens Criminal Court on Friday, May 22, 2026, after the sentencing of Richard Swygert. (Rebecca White / New York Daily News)
Recalling the last time she saw her son alive, DeAndre was on his way to the New Year’s Eve party he would never return from.
“My son’s last words to me before he left my home was, ‘I love you, Mom. I’ll be back,’” she said. “He gave me a hug so tight. Sometimes it just doesn’t seem real…but he’s not coming back.”
“You’re a coward! You’re weak!” DeAndre’s brother Pharris Williams, 33, shouted in court at the absent Swygert, in the hope the defendant could hear him from where he was hiding in his cell. “There’s nothing gangsta about you! I am without a brother all because you are a coward.”
“You are the scum of the earth,” his mother added, addressing the no-show Swygert. “I’m just happy. He will never see the light of day or the streets of New York City or any other state.”