South Glens Falls man gets 40 years to life in prison for killing Albany musician

A South Glens Falls man was sentenced on Friday to 40 years to life in the murder of an Albany man.

Jeff Henderson, 21, was found guilty in September for killing Benjamin Rowe, a 2015 graduate of Guilderland High School and a beloved member of the Albany music scene.

Rowe was killed on June 25, 2023 around 2 a.m. in the area of 503 Hamilton St. Prosecutors said the killing was a random act of gun violence.

Henderson was sentenced to 25 years to life on the second-degree murder charge and 15 years on the criminal possession of a weapon charge. Both sentences are set to run consecutively.

The victim’s mother, Lee Rowe, spoke at the sentencing.

“When my kids were little, they used to ask me what my greatest fear was. It was a very easy
question that I always answered ‘if something happened to any of you’. My answer was based on
the fear that one of them would be very sick, or get in an accident. Never did I think I would
have to imagine my child being murdered for no reason, when all he did was try to walk home.”