By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A 21-year-old man who admitted to shooting a retired detective during a botched robbery at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel would get 15 years in prison if he pleads guilty, a Manhattan judge decided Friday.
Rafael Rabinovich-Ardens, an Israeli citizen, entered a diamond and jewelry shop at the Midtown luxury hotel on Nov. 15, 2008, with a loaded weapon and the intention of swiping more than $1 million in diamonds and other items, prosecutors said.
He then smashed a display case containing 14 diamond rings, four pairs of earrings, two bracelets and a necklace, authorities said.
Retired NYPD Detective Gregory Boyle, who was in the shop, tackled the suspect and aimed a pistol at him, according to reports. Rabinovich-Ardens fought back, pulling a .45 and firing three rounds at the ex-officer and hitting him with one bullet to the chest, the Daily News reported.
Prosecutors requested a 20 year sentence upon a guilty plea, arguing against the defenses contention that a rough life led Rabinovich-Ardens to commit the crime.
"I sympathize with the background that [Rabinovich-Ardens] comes from, but our streets are filled with people who come from broken homes or who have come from homes that were lost," Assistant District Attorney Scott Lee.
If he pleads guilty, he will be an immigrant with violent offender status, and would be deported to Israel upon his release from prison, his attorney Bret Taylor argued in the interested of shortening his prison sentence.
"He's never going to walk the streets of New York again. He's never going to be free in this country again," Taylor said.
Ravinovich-Ardens is due back in court on Jan. 26, when he will either take a plea deal or continue to fight the charges.
