Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 25-year-old Raymond Smith of Buffalo has been sentenced by Erie County Court Judge Thomas P. Franczyk to 24 years to life for the murder of his former girlfriend. 

In January 2017, as his murder trial was winding down, Smith pleaded guilty to Murder in the Second Degree. 

On or about February 1, 2015, while inside the home of the victim at 43 Northumberland Avenue in Buffalo, the defendant fatally choked and beat his estranged girlfriend, 21-year-old Shaquilla Coston, with whom he has a young son, Keontae Smith. 

DA Flynn credits the Buffalo Police Homicide Unit, including Detective Timothy Salamone for their thorough investigation. 

Assistant District Attorney Gary W. Hackbush of DA Flynn’s Homicide Bureau and Paul C. Parisi, Chief of the Tactical Prosecution Unit are prosecuting the case.