(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced today that a Southampton man was sentenced to 25 years to life for second degree murder plus 25 years each for two counts of burglary for the 2019 shooting death of a man living on the Shinnecock Reservation.
Michael Gaines, 44, was convicted in January following a three-week jury trial before Suffolk County Court Judge Timothy Mazzei. The murder and burglary sentences will run concurrently. In addition, Gaines was sentenced as a Prior Felony Offender and to five years post release supervision for each burglary count.
According to the evidence presented at trial, on August 16, 2019, five hours before the murder, Gaines attacked Vanterpool at a gas station in Holtsville and then fled on foot. Mr. Vanterpool then returned home to the Shinecock Reservation and went to sleep next to his fiancé. Shortly before 6:00 a.m., Gaines broke into the home, burst into the couple’s bedroom and shot Mr. Vanterpool three times in the abdomen. Mr. Vanterpool’s fiancé immediately made a dramatic 911 call to police and made heroic efforts to save Mr. Vanterpool, who ultimately died in her arms. Gaines then fled the location and he was apprehended two days later in Pitt County, North Carolina.
Assistant District Attorney Francis Schroeder of the Homicide Bureau and Senior Assistant District Attorney William Richards III of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.