Accused murder-for-hire NY thug flips off TV cameras in court during jury deliberations
He’s a little camera shy.An upstate New York thug charged in a grisly murder-for-hire plot got ticked off about having his face plastered on TV during jury deliberations at his Orange County trial Wednesday — so he flipped off the cameras.Douglas McFarlane, who is facing first- and second-degree murder charges in the 2019 shooting death of Sebastian Avilan-Medina, 26, inside his Middletown home, tried to hide his face from courtroom cameras before he resorted to the vulgar gesture, News12 reported.“A jury is now deliberating the fate of Douglas McFarlane, accused of taking $10K to fatally shoot a Middletown, NY business owner,” News12 reporter Blaise Gomez posted on X.“Today, he appeared to give me the finger as I took court-approved photos.”Prosecutors said McFarlane was paid the hefty bounty by accused cohort Sheldon Paul in March 2019 because Paul believed that Avilan-Medina had burglarized his home, the outlet reported.The case remained cold for five years, before cops arrested McFarlane and two others — Paul and Dijion Constantine — in 2024 and charged them in the deadly plot.
Constantine, who was paid with marijuana for his role in the contract killing, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in June and is due to be sentenced next month.Paul’s first trial ended in a mistrial in April, but he was convicted of second-degree murder at his second trial earlier this month and faces a sentence of up to 25 years to life when he is sentenced in January.McFarlane’s trial went to the jury Wednesday after closing arguments, with prosecutors citing phone records, surveillance footage and Constantine’s testimony from his guilty plea.Defense attorneys for McFarlane have cited a lack of DNA evidence, calling the DA’s case circumstantial.The trial has been particularly difficult for Avilan-Medina’s family.“It is a roller coaster of emotions,” the victim’s father, Bryan Avilan, told News12.“It’s hard to go through all that happened to our ...