UES Juice Store Stabber Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison: DA

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The woman who stabbed an Upper East Side juice bar worker multiple times will spend the next 12 years of her life behind bars, officials said following her sentencing Wednesday.

Chala Jamison, 24, pled guilty to one count of attempted murder in the second degree back in late January, officials said, and was sentenced to a dozen years of state prison time on Wednesday.

Jamison had repeatedly stabbed a worker at an Upper East Side juice bar two hours after her debit card was declined, police said at the time.

“Cha’la Jamison ferociously attacked and seriously injured a New Yorker who was just doing his job,” said District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “This attack has significantly impacted the victim, who continues to suffer physical pain and emotional trauma, and has been unable to work. I hope this sentence can offer some peace and comfort, despite the serious harm that occurred."

On April 12, 2023, Jamison got in an argument with a worker at a Savoy Plaza Juice Island on Third Avenue near East 61st Street at about 8:30 p.m., officials said.

Her card had been declined after she ordered a drink and the worker, Luis Morocho Vasquez, told her she could take her drink for free so he could help another customer.

Vasquez said she started throwing items and threatened to return and kill him, prompting a call police who told him there was nothing they could do in response to a threat.

"I never think she's gonna come back," Vasquez told CBS2 shortly after his release from the hospital. But two hours later, she did.

Jamison grabbed a knife from the counter and stabbed the 39-year-old worker several times in his head, neck, back and hands.

"I turned around, there was the lady with a knife," Vasquez, an immigrant from Ecuador, told CBS2.

The brutal stabbing resulted in stitches on his neck, head staples and damage to his arm and hand requiring further surgery, according to reports. In addition to the blood and injuries, prosecutors say Jamison also left behind a broken acrylic nail, which matched others she was found with when arrested.

Vasquez still suffers limited mobility and feeling to his hand today, prosecutors said.

Five days later, police caught up with Jamison at her East 56th Street apartment, where she tried to evade officers by fleeing to the fire escape with a bag full of wigs and fake nails, prosecutors said.

Inside the apartment, police found a bag containing clothes she was wearing at the time of the stabbing, including a wig, a purse and shoes that looked to be stained with blood, prosecutors said.