Kidnappers used pliers to rip out man’s front teeth; victim used a tooth to escape, prosecutors say

Syracuse, N.Y. ― In a shed in a quiet DeWitt neighborhood, Jhomiel Brown was living a nightmare.

One man held him as another took a pair of pliers and ripped out his two front teeth and part of his gums, prosecutor Jed Hudson told a Syracuse jury last week.

Hudson said the two men were looking to leave a mark on Brown when they tortured him at 6820 Myers Road on Sept. 24, 2023. He said they sought to disfigure him.

“Front teeth are personal,” Hudson said.

Brown was also beaten with metal poles, bitten and burned with cigarettes, Hudson said. During the abuse, Brown passed out.

When he came to, his wrists were duct-taped to his ankles in front of him in the shed outside the home, Hudson said. His clothes, except his socks and underwear, were gone.

In a “grotesque moment of necessity,”