Acting District Attorney Michael J. Flaherty, Jr. announces that 25 year old Deandre Grayson was convicted as charged of Burglary in the First Degree, Aggravated Criminal Contempt and two counts of Aggravated Family Offense before State Supreme Court Justice Deborah A. Haendiges.

Grayson has a lengthy criminal history of being a domestic abuser.  His current conviction comes on the heels of another conviction for domestic violence from December.

In that case, Grayson pleaded guilty as charged to Assault in the Second Degree, Aggravated Family Offense and Intimidating a Victim or Witness in the Third Degree also before Justice Haendiges.

On February 22, 2014, Grayson beat the mother of one of his children in the face while driving from Lackawanna to Buffalo.  Once in Buffalo, Grayson took the woman to a house and continued his assault against her there, where he kicked her about her body while wearing sneakers.  In an act of complete degradation, Grayson poured mustard and baking soda on her while she attempted to clean her injuries.  Once Grayson learned that Buffalo Police Detectives Mark Costantino and Kim Tomassi had gone to the house and collected evidence which corroborated the attack, he called the victim and threatened her.  The victim had the fortuity to record  Grayson’s threats.

Following Grayson’s arrest, the court issued an order of protection in favor of the victim. This did not prevent Grayson from telephoning and sending letters from jail in an effort to convince her not to cooperate. Nor did it prevent Grayson from attempting to enlist his friends to contact the victim, wishing to know whether she intended to go forward and cooperate in his prosecution.

Unsuccessful in his efforts to prevent the victim from testifying, the defendant pleaded guilty on the eve of trial.  He was sentenced on December 3, 2015 to 7 years in state prison.  At the time of his plea, he faced the second indictment which involved a different woman with whom he also has children.

In that case, the woman already had an order of protection in her favor because Grayson had previously assaulted her.  On March 9, 2014, he appeared at her home and kicked her front door until the wood splintered and broke open.  Once inside, the defendant repeatedly punched the woman in the face, kicked her while she lay on the ground, attempted to strangle her and struck her in the head with a lamp.  When the woman’s friend tried to help, Grayson also struck the friend in the mouth causing her to bleed.  The defendant’s attack occurred despite the fact that his two young children were present in the home.

The victim and her friend went to Buffalo General Hospital where the woman received eight staples to close the wound caused by the lamp.

Buffalo Police Officer Karin Franco responded and noticed the broken door, saw both women injured and noticed broken furniture in the home.  Amidst the broken furniture, she located the lamp, which Grayson used as a weapon.  Despite her best efforts to locate Grayson, he had already fled the scene.

Grayson, though, boldly contacted the woman while Officer Franco was still on scene and threatened that he had “a thousand rounds” waiting for the police.  After extensive efforts by the Buffalo Police Department, the defendant was arrested two days later.  During an interview with detectives, Grayson threatened to harm them and launched a fan at one of them. 

It should come as no surprise that Grayson continued to disregard the order of protection and called the victim hundreds of times from jail in an attempt to convince her not to cooperate.  Unsuccessful in his attempts, Grayson pleaded guilty on the eve of trial and will be sentenced on April 4, 2016 before Justice Haendiges, where he faces a prison term of  25 years.

Grayson, is no stranger to domestic violence or the criminal justice system.  Grayson represents the group of domestic abusers who target women in multiple relationships and continuously engage in manipulation and control over their victims.  Grayson boasts multiple convictions involving these women, including in November 2013 and November 2012 for violating an Order of Protection and attempted assault.  Grayson also has a prior felony conviction for Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree and, accordingly, will be sentenced as a second felony offender.

Information for victims of domestic violence is available through the Erie County District Attorney’s Office BE SAFE Program.  The BE SAFE program is confidential and provides counseling, referrals, advocacy services, court accompaniment and safety planning.  For more information about the BE SAFE Program please call (716) 858-4635.