Dixon's closing arguments also included the presentation of autopsy photos showing the wound to Guzman-Feliz's neck which reportedly killed him. The second day of trial in the killing of Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz was emotional and filled with graphic video and photos. It also made his story easier to use as a rallying cry to target gangs that attract and control vulnerable teens like Manuel. It was a lawyers argument (as the judges law clerk put it) intellectual, nitpicky not visceral. Mr. Martinez Estrella, a probationary member, boasted to the others that Lesandro would not eat for a very long time because I hit him in the neck, Mr. Reyes testified. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Members of the Bronx sets also wanted revenge because a Sunset member had shot one of the Bad Boys in the face, Mr. Alvarez said. Although this position was strenuously argued by defense counsel, the jury ignored it. Theodore Parisienne for The New York Times. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. It was very painful, Guzman told reporters in Spanish. This 15-year-old boy, moments before death, fought like hell to get away, said Dolan. They said that the store did not show good moral character. There is also a petition being spread around demanding the store get its license revoked. That isgonna stick with this jury for the rest of the weekend, he says. Now that the prosecution had rested its case, the defense can begin to question witnesses next week, and once that process is done, closing arguments will begin. Members of Los Sures took orders from a leader named Diego Suero, whom they called Santa Claus.. Last Friday, five men were convicted of murder in the first degree for the killing of Lesandro "Junior" Guzman Feliz in June 2018. After Junior was stabbed outside the Bronx bodega, he is seen in surveillance video clutching his neck and attempting to run to the nearby hospital, where he eventually collapsed on a sidewalk and bled to death. Brown said Janari became the 38th juvenile murdered in gun violence in Chicago in the first seven months of 2020. Except thats not what happened. People visit murder site to mourn the death of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz in Bronx in New York, United States on June 27, 2018. . Its Wednesday, June 20. Five men approached, including Manuel, weapons in hand. Reyes said the order implied: If you have a gun, shoot it, if you a have a knife, you stab, if you have a machete, you use it.. In recent months, turf wars have spiked among rival Trinitario factions. Do not sell my information. Diego Suero leaving the 48th Precinct in the Bronx. The federal judiciary is getting more diverse. Meanwhile a number of Bronx businesses are learning to be 'safe havens' for people in danger after a bodega owner was criticized for not doing enough 'Junior', who was killed outside his store. Junior suffered multiple wounds to his face, back, chest, legs and hands. Seeing his sons clothing proved too much to bear for Juniors father, Lesandro Guzman, who left the courtroom shortly after Oikawas testimony. Juniors parents were not in court, having been warned the images would be shown. Todays verdict fortifies the Bronx communitys stand against violence., Lesandros mother, Leandra Feliz said, Im not going to have my son back, but those killers, those murderers, theyre not going to be outside killing another kid.. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. Warning Graphic Video Below. She has not been back to court since. Wounds to his hands believed to be caused by a sharp object, possibly a knife, were considered to be defensive wounds where Junior put his hands up to protect his face. At 10:05 p.m., security footage shows Junior leaving home to meet his friend Jason Velez at this corner. A group of gang members armed with machetes and knives. Privacy Center | Their trial provided a glimpse inside the violent Trinitarios gang, whose members mistook 15-year-old Lesandro Junior Guzman-Feliz for a rival. ", Junior came to symbolize all of the young people who have lost their lives to brutal gang violence, said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark. The referrals are a nice bonus too! Surveillance video shows Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz being dragged out and then hacked to death by five men with machetes on June 20, 2018, in the Bronx. Reyes, a member of the Bad Boys one of two Trinitarios subsets said gangbangers were gathered outside Sueros apartment, just one block from the slay-scene bodega at East 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue, when they were instructed to hunt down members of the rival Sunset crew for recently shooting a Bad Boy member. Secure New Clients Using A Content Marketing Funnel, Seth Klarman Doesnt Care Whether J.K. Rowling Is Cancelled. The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced the cause of death for slain teen Lesandro Guzman-Feliz. An order had come from Mr. Suero, he said: Go after Sunset you already know what you have to do., Mr. Reyes said he understood that to be an order to do any kind of damage. Its horrific, defense attorney Kyle Watters said of his client, Estrella. The incident revealed the barbaric tactics of a gang called the Trinitarios, and it laid bare a glaring paradox: Amid historically low crime rates in New York, police are still struggling to contain brutal violence in some neighborhoods. But the glee I saw in the eyes of spectators at the reading of straight convictions for Murder I was not founded. We're about five years off of Best Buy having a 'Legal Troubleshooting' department, aren't we? We dont know. Prosecutors showed jurors an autopsy photo showing the lethal wound to the neck of Lesandro Junior Guzman-Feliz. Community member Elizabeth De Jesus likened the photo to a horror movie. Whether Junior was a gang member or not, didnt justify his death. Fourteen men have been criminally charged in connection with Guzman-Felizs slaying. They hang out on a stoop close by, chatting and listening to hip-hop, according to Jason. Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz, 15, was slashed in the neck with a machete at a bodega in the Bronx on June 19, 2018. No one, not prosecutors or police, wanted to admit, that Junior had gang connections. Mere days after the trial kicked off startling never-before-seen footage of the savage machete attack was presented by prosecutors. Join Nancy Grace and a team of world-class experts for the online course Justice Nation: Crime Stops Here. That order came during a bloody feud within the Trinitarios that had pitted Sunset, which is based in Brooklyn, against Mr. Sueros two Bronx sets, the witnesses said. After that, they will lead off summations. We obtained footage from multiple security cameras and cellphones. Following the lengthy opening statements from the prosecution and defense attorneys for the five suspected gang members, the first of 14 to stand trial, the first witness took the stand. Prosecutors say that Jonaiki Martinez gave the fatal stab, slashing Juniors neck. But in this case, she couldnt. Officers were called to a . Only by addressing these issues might other young men like Junior not be killed, and still others like four of the five defendants in this case, not be condemned to life in prison for the actions of a few seconds done by a fellow gang member which they never intended. This 15-year-old boy, in the moments before his death, fought and fought like hell, Dolan said, according to the New York Daily News. Forsyth County prosecutors rested their case Tuesday morning. What is the derivation of this distorted quest for manhood and meaning? The footage went viral and with it, rumor and speculation about why the 15-year-old boy known as Junior was singled out. On June 20, members of both Bronx sets had spent much of the day hunting for their enemies, Mr. Alvarez said. Crime, Criminal Defense Attorneys, Gangs, Lesandro Junior Guzman Feliz, Manuel Rivera, Murder, Toni Messina. Crime Scene Unit Det. Mr. Alvarez and Mr. Reyes described how their subsets of the Trinitarios terrorized rivals, including a Trinitarios splinter group called Sunset. On his way there, Junior was in touch with this friend, who lives on Adams Place and who, according to our reporting, is not in a gang, either. Then hes dragged from the bodega and brutally stabbed by a swarm of attackers. The attention this case brings to the heinous nature of gangs is important. A jury began deliberating Thursday on the five mens fates. Members of the Trinitarios gang were hunting for enemies in the Bronx last summer when they found a 15-year-old boy on his phone and walking alone. She replied that the wounds they spoke of were superficial and that the only wound that caused his death was the one to his neck. Hundreds attended his funeral last summer. Kevin Alvarez, third from left, and Elvin Garcia, both members of the Trinitarios gang, appearing before a judge in 2018. He was picked on and one time, beaten up so badly his ribs were broken. At least eight other men are on the lookout some, armed with knives. A teenager hunted down and dragged from a New York City bodega, then swarmed by attackers outside. The convicted killers will be sentenced Tuesday, July 16. However, all 12 alleged gang members were indicted on second degree murder, manslaughter, conspiracy, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Erica Byfield reports. But some of his friends were, and he had been hanging out with them at Adams Place recently. Five menSantiago Rodriguez, 24, Joniki Matinez, 24, Jose Muniz, 21, Danel Fernandez, 21, and Manuel Rivera, 18are currently on trial for the 2018 filmed murder. Officer Kyle Oiwaka of the 48th Precinct took the stand on the 12th day of trial to testify about responding to a reported knife assault on the June 2018 night Junior was killed, and gave chilling details of the gory scene. This Aint One Of Them: Get to figuring your way around AI sooner rather than later. Members of the Police Departments Law Enforcement Explorers program attending a memorial for Lesandro last year. When the attackers walk in, the worker points out where Junior is hiding, and he gets dragged outof the store. But the owner appears to direct him away. His understanding, as was everyones, was that the group was ordered to physically harm (not kill) any Sunset they found. Surveillance cameras reportedly caught a group of men dragging Guzman-Feliz outside a Bronx bodega before attacking him. . It was Mr. Suero who had sent them out on June 20, 2018, armed with machetes and knives, to search for members of Sunset to attack, the two cooperating witnesses said. Its 11:37. But Morgan Dolan, the lead prosecutor, countered that weapons like knives and machetes kill and the gang members went in knowing that.. Toni Messina has tried over 100 cases and has been practicing criminal law and immigration since 1990. Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. ), It was shared millions of times on social media and in the general press. The five men who viciously slashed a New York teenager to death with . Just 20 minutes later, Junior is pronounced dead as a result of a stab wound to the neck. One made a gesture as if he were going to hit Lesandro and the teenager ran, the witnesses said. Because he resisted their efforts to stab him does not diminish their intent.. In total, more than a dozen suspects have been arrested in connection to the killing. A Trinitarios ringleader, Diego Suero, issued the order to his minions, who then mistook Guzman-Feliz for a rival when they stabbed him to death outside a bodega June 20, 2018, cooperating witness and gang member Michael Sosa Reyes, 20, told Bronx Supreme Court jurors. READ: #JusticeForJunior: 19-Year-Old Charged in the Murder of Bronx Teenager. Reyes fled to the Dominican Republic on June 21 to see his mother after learning he was present in a murder but returned the following day and handed himself in to police before entering a plea deal in August. THE BRONX As they rested their case in the "Junior" murder trial Friday, prosecutors turned to the medical examiner who performed the teen's autopsy, offering graphic detail of the wound that. The officer said Juniors clothes had to be repackaged the day after they were vouchered into evidence as the blood was soaking through the paper bags they had been stored in. 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Oiwaka said Juniors clothes had to be repackaged the day after they were vouchered into evidence as the blood was soaking through the paper bags they had been stored in. Then he starts running to St. Barnabas Hospital, just one block away. The cars then split up and appear to surround him. The knife made it from the right side to the left, hit the muscle, hit the (jugular) vein, went behind the throat, hit the tissue on the back side of the mouth, Dr. Rodriguez said. UPDATE! Also consider other hobbies. Yesterday lawyers for four of the suspects accused of stabbing 15-year-old . Last week, court officers had to restrain and remove a screaming Leandra Feliz as Judge Robert Neary blasted her as hysterical.. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. . In the video, we see the 15-year-old ask for the help from the worker of the Cruz and Chiky Grocery on E. 183rd St. in the Bronx. A New York prosecutor detailed how hard a 15-year-old tried to fight off a group of accused gang members as they allegedly stabbed him to death in front of a bodega last summer. Defense lawyers for the four other defendants said in their closing arguments that the order from Mr. Suero had only been to injure a Sunset member, not to kill someone. ", "It was a terrible year, it felt like 10 years. New Yorkers flooded investigators with tips. The 15-year-old had already been pronounced dead inside the hospital, Officer Oikawa would later learn. At around 11:30, Junior leaves, and two minutes later security cameras catch him on this corner passing near his home. The trial also included shocking revelations, including when it was learned that the self-proclaimed gang member who testified against the other five alleged Trinitarios members on trial could get off because of his testimony. Prior to deliberations starting, the judge told the jury they could deliberate over the five defendants on trial separately and return individual verdicts or wait to return the verdicts of all five at once. According to . Once that video was out, it took on a life of its own causing the defendants to lose the presumption of innocence and any chance for a fair trial (at least that close in time to the event itself under one year. Lesandro, who had hidden behind the counter, pleaded with the men, saying he was not the person they were looking for. The mural outside of the bodega where Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz was attacked bears his birth and death dates: 2002 and 2018. GRAPHIC: CCTV and bystanders filming with their phones captured the gruesome Bronx bodega machete stabbing murder of Lesandro 'Junior' Guzman by Trinitarios gang members. If convicted, they face life in prison. The teen reportedly bled to death steps from the emergency room. Guzman-Feliz's mother, Leandra Feliz, wept and screamed at times during the emotional trial.. The desperate teenager tried to hide inside of a bodega, but the gang members dragged him from the store and stabbed him to death as security cameras recorded the gruesome scene. News and analysis from this company could be a game-changer for legal professionals working globally. The teen reportedly bled to death steps from the emergency room. It is unclear if Reyes is in witness protection or has also been released with other gangbanger-turned-witness Kevin Alvarez, 20. It is unclear what the jury decided on. The men punched and kicked Lesandro before dragging him out. 2023 Breaking Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Alvarez, who testified last week as a cooperating witness, pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in a deal with Bronx prosecutors and is expected to serve no prison time. Reyes told the jury he chased a frightened Junior inside the bodega and lied to the storekeeper that the teen had done something to my grandmother.. (Jefferson Siegel/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS). Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz was murdered outside of a Bronx deli in 2019. Only someone in the gang would know the response. Some Work Things Are Optional. If they did not participate, the lawyers said, they would have been disciplined. A bottle of hate had been uncorked and there was no way to close it. What could be put in place in their neighborhoods to substitute the pull of the gang? Man arrested for stealing fire department truck:, Coincidence prompted Powerball winner to buy ticket, Two women attacked from behind by group: NYPD, Moose on the Loose: Battle to become Yankees shortstop, Pop-up grocery store opens in Greenwich Village, Expert raises awareness about eating disorders, NY Rep. Dan Goldman talks House ethics probe into, What to know about teens and their mental health, Read Across America Day kicks off at NYC bookstore, Womens History Month: Highlighting women in medicine. WPIX reported that theyre charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter, gang assault, and conspiracy. Anyone can read what you share. Prosecutors rested their case today in the Junior murder trial, but not without a graphic and powerful finish. Stuck Drafting A Tough Brief? LexisNexis Brief Analysis produces powerful, near-instant legal argumentation insights using the power of AI. WNBC reported that the grisly images brought some of the jurors to tears. "See what happens with those killers," said Leandra Feliz. A post shared by Robert Williams (@areumdawo_saja), Jury Finds All Five Defendants Guilty Of Murdering Bronx Teen Junior Guzman-Feliz, New Owners Of Bodega Where Junior Was Killed Want To Rename Store After Slain Teen, Bronx Street Renamed To Honor Slain Teen Junior, Bronx Bodega Where Teen Junior Was Attacked Reopens Temporarily, Legendary Jazz Saxophonist Wayne Shorter Has Died, White Student At Howard University Law School Sues for $2 Million Over Racial Discrimination, R. Kelly Sentenced to 20 Years For Child Sex Crimes, Family of Malcolm X Files $100 Million Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against NYPD & Others. Mr. Alvarez said he and other gang members tried to block Lesandro with their cars, but the teenager fled into the Cruz and Chiky Grocery, a bodega at East 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. "If they continue the violence in the city, theyre going to get the same thing. Several of the gang members got out of the cars and surrounded Lesandro, asking him questions. But these verdicts will send a messageto those who would commitacts of senseless violenc, and help us move forward and bring closure to this awful chapter in our borough's history.". They're not gonna forget it. The blood-soaked clothes worn by slain Bronx teen Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz as he was hacked at by a machete-wielding mob were displayed to jurors at the boy's murder trial Thursday,. In the beginning of the video, the teen is seen trying to hide behind the counter. How Junior was killed follows a pattern of attacks by Trinitarios, a Dominican gang that was born in New York prisons. However, four defense attorneys contested this notion, describing during opening statements that most of Guzman-Feliz's wounds as superficial and said it was the one cut to the throat that killed him. On Monday, City Council members Ritchie Torres, Vanessa Gibson, and Rafael Salamanca wrote a letter to Department of Consumer Affairs asking that the bodega be shut down. But at the end, it has a happy ending," said Manny Ortiz. Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, known as 'Junior,' was mistaken for another person in a murder earlier this week described as "among the most brutal crimes I've seen in my 36yr career," New York .