NEW YORK CITY WOMAN SENTENCED FOR KILLING PONOMA RESIDENT

Jody Ann Hemmings, 24, of New York, New York was sentenced last week to 14 years in state prison and five years post-release supervision for killing Pomona resident, Jason Ogneoff.

Hemmings pleaded guilty to one county of manslaughter in the first degree, a felony and one count of arson in the second degree, also a felony.

“This defendant has been convicted and now punished for the particularly senseless and disturbing killing of a well-liked and hard-working man,” said Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe.

On August 18, 2011, Hillcrest volunteer firefighters found Ognenoff dead in the living room when they responded to a fire at his Pomona apartment.

Hemmings had intentionally set fire to Ognenoff’s home after striking him with a figurine and repeatedly stabbing him in the chest with a steak knife, which caused his death. Investigators ruled the fire arson.

Town of Haverstraw Police Detectives arrested Hemmings near her home on August 24 of last year.

This spring, Hemmings underwent separate examinations by clinical and forensic psychologists, who determined the defendant was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance, which led her to kill Ognenoff.

These medical findings helped reduce Hemmings’ crime from murder in the second degree to manslaughter.

  arson, Jason Ogneoff, jody-ann hemmings, murder, New York City, Pomona, rockland county