The 2024 attack began with an argument over money and left the 64-year-old woman with severe injuries, according to prosecutors.

NEW YORK, N.Y. — A 25 year prison sentence was handed down to a Queens man after prosecutors said he beat his mother with a cane, threatened her with kitchen knives and pushed her out of a third-floor apartment window during a fight over money.

The sentence closes one stage of a case that shocked Queens because of both the violence and the family tie at its center. Prosecutors said George Tsintzelis, 37, attacked his 64-year-old mother, Paraskevi Tsintzelis, inside their apartment on Shore Boulevard on Nov. 15, 2024. She survived the three-story fall, underwent multiple surgeries and later testified against her son. A jury convicted him in December 2025, and Queens Supreme Court Justice Peter Vallone Jr. imposed the sentence on Feb. 18, 2026, along with five years of post-release supervision.

According to prosecutors, the attack unfolded shortly after 9:10 p.m. inside the family’s apartment at the Marine Terrace complex in Astoria, near the East River waterfront. George Tsintzelis and his mother had begun arguing over money when the confrontation turned violent, authorities said. Prosecutors told jurors that he struck her with a cane, then went to the kitchen, got two knives and used them to threaten her. They said he pressed the knives against her body, forced her onto the window ledge and shoved her out. Neighbors saw the woman fall and called 911. Police from the 114th Precinct and emergency crews responded within minutes. She was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where doctors treated multiple broken bones, a lacerated tongue, a lacerated intestine and internal bleeding. District Attorney Melinda Katz said after sentencing that the victim survived “miraculously” and later “bravely testified” about the attack.

At trial, prosecutors presented the case as a sustained assault that did not end when the woman hit the ground. Assistant District Attorney Christina Mavrikis argued that after the fall, Tsintzelis called 911 and acted as if he did not know what had happened. In courtroom remarks later described by local media, Mavrikis said that “arguably the worst part” was that he left his mother outside badly hurt. The victim’s injuries were extensive. Prosecutors said she had to be intubated in the hospital and undergo several surgeries. More than a year after the attack, officials said, she was still recovering. Katz said the crime was “an unthinkable act of violence against his own mother,” adding that Tsintzelis forced the woman onto the ledge with knives before throwing her from the apartment. The defendant’s mother, according to statements described in court, had tried to help him and remained worried about what he might do if he were released.

The case moved through Queens Supreme Court over more than a year, and prosecutors framed the victim’s testimony as one of its most important moments. By the time of trial in late 2025, the woman had survived a fall that could easily have killed her and returned to court to describe what happened. The jury convicted Tsintzelis on Dec. 5, 2025, after about nine hours of deliberations, according to the Queens district attorney’s office. The conviction covered attempted murder in the second degree, two counts of assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, aggravated criminal contempt, four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and two counts of criminal contempt in the first degree. Those charges reflected not only the alleged shove from the window but also the earlier use of a cane and the knives inside the apartment. Prosecutors said the verdict showed jurors accepted the mother’s account and the physical evidence of her injuries.

Tsintzelis denied responsibility during the case and tried to shift blame onto his mother. In remarks reported from the courtroom, he said he loved her and claimed she had mental health issues. He also said, “She did that to herself,” rejecting the prosecution’s version of events. The defense position, at least as it emerged through those statements, did not persuade jurors. Public records released by the district attorney’s office do not describe every argument made by defense lawyers, and the available summaries do not include a full transcript of testimony or closing arguments. They do make clear, however, that prosecutors relied on trial testimony, the victim’s injuries and the sequence of events inside the apartment to support the attempted murder charge. The public case summaries also do not spell out whether any other family members testified, whether video or audio recordings were played in court, or whether the defense plans an appeal. Those questions remain unanswered in the materials released so far.

For residents of Astoria, the location added another layer to the case. Marine Terrace sits in a residential section of Shore Boulevard, an area better known for apartment towers, river views and nearby parks than for a crime this brutal. Prosecutors said neighbors became key first responders in the most immediate sense: they saw the woman fall and called for help. That quick reaction likely mattered in a case where the victim suffered internal bleeding and other traumatic injuries. Katz’s office has not publicly detailed how long the woman remained hospitalized, but officials have repeatedly said she faced a long recovery. Local coverage described the case as one that lingered in neighborhood memory because of the image of a woman falling from a third-floor window and because the accused was her own son. The district attorney’s office also underscored that the victim later made the difficult decision to testify, a step prosecutors often note in family violence cases where fear, dependence and emotional ties can complicate cooperation.

The legal path after the verdict was straightforward but still important. After openings began on Nov. 20, 2025, and the jury returned guilty verdicts in early December, Vallone initially set sentencing for Jan. 21. The final sentencing took place on Feb. 18, 2026. In court, the judge imposed 25 years in prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision, the maximum prison term noted in the district attorney’s public release. The prosecution team included Mavrikis of the Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau, with assistance from Valerie Sakellaridis of the Domestic Violence Bureau. By the time of sentencing, Katz said she hoped the punishment would bring “a measure of solace” as Paraskevi Tsintzelis continued to recover. Publicly available releases do not indicate any pending charges beyond those resolved at trial, and they do not list any future hearing date. The next clear procedural milestone would likely come only if the defense files post-conviction motions or pursues an appeal in state court.

The story also carried a painful emotional split that surfaced in courtroom remarks. Prosecutors said the mother wanted accountability yet still saw her son as someone who needed help. That tension ran through the public statements in the case: a victim describing fear of what her son could do, while also having tried in the past to support him and connect him with programs. On the other side, Tsintzelis presented himself as a son who cared about his mother even as prosecutors accused him of nearly killing her. Those competing images gave the case an emotional force beyond its criminal charges. Still, the court’s ruling rested on the jury’s findings and the severe injuries left behind. By sentencing day, the official account had settled into a stark chronology: an argument over money, a beating with a cane, threats with knives, a shove from a third-floor window, a desperate medical rescue and a mother returning to court to testify against her son.

With sentencing complete, George Tsintzelis is now set to serve his prison term unless a higher court changes the outcome. The case stands, for now, as a closed trial in Queens Supreme Court, with the victim still recovering and no new public court date announced.