East Quogue man sentenced to life without parole in torture killing

East Quogue resident Jeremy Allen, 44, was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole on Feb. 26, 2026 after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence for the killing of his longtime friend, 43-year-old Christopher Hahn of Hampton Bays. The sentence was imposed in a Riverside courtroom by Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei following a Jan. 21, 2026 jury verdict.

Prosecutors say the violence unfolded after Allen and Hahn spent the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 at local bars and returned to Allen’s East Quogue home. Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney summarized evidence shown at trial, saying surveillance footage captured the sounds of an approximately 18-minute brutal beating a few minutes after midnight and later showed Allen dragging a bruised and semi-conscious Hahn onto the rear deck of the house.

Newsday and other outlets reported additional trial evidence and video excerpts showing repeated strikes with a baseball bat, the victim’s head allegedly covered with a garbage bag, and throat or neck wounds inflicted before Hahn stopped breathing; News12 reported the neck was stabbed 10 times. Newsday reported the attack continued for more than six hours and that audio from the back-deck footage captured Allen saying "Die" and "It’s not so hard. Just die."

Daily Voice and the DA’s office reported that after the assault Allen covered Hahn’s body with a blanket and attempted to clean blood inside the house and on the rear deck. Daily Voice reported Allen contacted a handyman to help clean; the handyman fled the scene, called police after seeing blood throughout the residence and the victim’s body on the deck, and Allen was apprehended at the home shortly afterward. Local reporting from 27east identified the address as Oakville Avenue in East Quogue.

The trial was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Elena Tomaro of the Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Stuart Levy of the Major Crimes Bureau; Detectives Michael Ronca and Matt Sagistano of the Suffolk County Police Department Homicide Squad led the investigation. Defense counsel for Allen was Colin Astarita, Esq.

Justice Mazzei told the courtroom the killing was the most "brutal, torturous and sadistic murder" he’d seen in nearly 50 years practicing law and said, "If New York State had the death penalty, this would be the prime case to be considered for that sentence." DA Tierney characterized the crime as a betrayal of trust, saying, "Christopher Hahn deserved better than to have his life violently taken by someone he once trusted," and added, "For torture such as occurred here, a life sentence without parole is the only appropriate sentence."

Newsday noted Allen is the first Suffolk County defendant in nearly a decade to receive a full life-without-parole term; state records show 303 inmates were serving full life sentences in 2024 and the last Suffolk life-without-parole sentence was handed down in November 2016. The DA’s press release and multiple outlets list Feb. 26, 2026 as the sentencing date; one supplied report listed Feb. 27, creating a single-source discrepancy for the calendar day. With the sentence imposed by Justice Mazzei, prosecutors said the criminal case has reached its legal conclusion and Allen will serve the remainder of his life in state custody.