Hours after his first-degree murder conviction Tuesday, Herve Jeannot tied a sheet to his bunk bed at the Nassau County Correctional Facility and hung himself. Facing life in prison, Jeannot’s quick exit contrasted markedly from his dragged out legal fight over four trials for the 2004 murder of Bobby Calabrese.
“The overwhelming evidence in this case has proven that Herve Jeannot is no more than a liar and a cold-blooded murderer,” said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, denouncing the 29-year-old Deer Park man’s “ever-changing story.”
In December 2004, Jeannot’s accomplice Mark Orlando paid him $4,000 to kill Calabrese, a bookmaker’s runner, during a meeting in an industrial corner of Island Park. Calabrese arrived expecting $17,000 in gambling debt. Jeannot, a former U.S. Marine, shot him three times in the head.
Jeannot’s first two trials in 2005 and 2006 ended with hung juries. A 2006 conviction was overturned by a technicality last year. Authorities decided to pursue another conviction.
Nassau Detective Lt. John Azzata said Jeannot showed no signs of being suicidal and that a note found in the cell made “no references to any of the criminality.”
