Bascombe pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

A guilty plea to manslaughter is an admission on that reduced count. It is not a murder verdict. On Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, Jeremiah Bascombe, 21, withdrew a not-guilty plea and pleaded guilty in Manhattan to first-degree manslaughter in the Oct. 2, 2024 drive-by killing of Vernard Floranda, 46, and Judge Ann Scherzer said she plans to sentence him to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release, with formal sentencing set for Nov. 17, 2026. That announced plan is the expected judgment at the November hearing, not a sentence entered today, and the cases against his co-defendants are separate.

Floranda, 46, was a sommelier at Café Boulud on the Upper East Side and had also worked as a sommelier at Gramercy Tavern. He was struck in the chest by a stray bullet shortly after midnight on Oct. 2, 2024, while waiting to cross a street one block from his apartment. The Daily Mail reported that prosecutors described gang members from the Bronx firing into a crowd from a car Bascombe was driving. He was 19 at the time of the shooting and is 21 now. A driver role and a reduced plea are the record on his count. They are not a murder verdict.

The same report named two accomplices: Jason Texeira, then 18 and now 20, and a then-17-year-old whose name was not released. Texeira is scheduled for trial on Oct. 13 on second-degree murder, conspiracy, and weapons possession, charges he pleaded not guilty to. Those files are not this plea. Judge Scherzer said she will sentence Bascombe to 15 years in prison and five years of supervised release and set the formal hearing for Nov. 17, 2026. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.