Buffalo man to serve 20 years in prison for fatally stabbing victim inside NFTA Metro Rail station

Submitted by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announced 30-year-old Contrelle P. Hornsby of Buffalo was sentenced Thursday morning before Erie County Court Judge James Bargnesi to 20 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision.

On Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, at approximately 10:20 a.m., the defendant stabbed the victim inside of the NFTA Metro Rail Utica station on Main Street near East Utica Street in the City of Buffalo. The victim, 53-year-old Donnie D. Reese of Buffalo, was taken by ambulance to ECMC where he died from his injuries.

Hornsby pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter in the first degree (class “B” violent felony) on Dec. 9, 2022.

Flynn commended the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) Transit Police for their work in this investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Chief Ashley M. Morgan of the felony trials bureau.