A 15-year-old boy linked to the suspected killers of actress Nicole duFresne pleaded guilty to assault yesterday in a separate robbery that occurred on the same ill-fated night.
The teen, identified in Manhattan family court only as Kashawn B., was with duFresne’s alleged killer and two other males who tried to rob a 20-year-old man of his leather jacket on the Lower East Side on Jan. 27 – about 90 minutes before the actress was slain.
City lawyers are seeking an 18-month jail sentence for the teen on the assault rap.
He could face as little as six months or as much as three years, based on the judge’s discretion at his sentencing, which is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 24.
The teen is being held at a juvenile detention center until sentencing.
Officials said the teen’s plea is not in exchange for his testimony in the duFresne case, although he is expected to be called as a witness at that trial.
DuFresne, a 28-year-old playwright and performer from Minnesota, died in her fiancé’s arms on the sidewalk after a purse-snatching gone awry.
Witnesses said duFresne had defiantly stood up to the muggers, saying, “What are you going to do, shoot us?” before she was killed by a single bullet.
Accused triggerman Rudy Fleming, 19, and two girls, Ashley Evans, 18, and Tatiana McDonald, 14, have been charged in the murder.
They girls allegedly stood beside Fleming after he complained that they had not been enthusiastic enough about the earlier mugging.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona