A Bronx hood convicted within the vicious gang slaying of 15-year-old Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz was hit with a brand new jail sentence after a state appeals courtroom tossed his first-degree homicide rap.
Jonaiki Martinez-Estrella, 27, was amongst two dozen members of the “Trinitarios” road gang busted within the stunning June 20, 2018, caught-on-video assault on {the teenager} on the Zesarina Grocery retailer in Belmont, in what authorities stated was a case of mistaken id.
Martinez-Estrella was discovered responsible of first- and second-degree homicide within the case in 2019, and was sentenced to a jail time period of life with out parole for allegedly delivering the demise blow to the teenager.
However the convicted killer appealed and, in 2023, a New York State Appellate Division panel threw out the highest cost, which carries the life with out parole sentence.
“The evidence established that defendant committed an extremely heinous second-degree murder,” the panel’s choice stated. “However, we vacate his conviction of first-degree murder under [the law] because the evidence did not establish the very specific element of that crime.”
Shipped again to Bronx Supreme Courtroom, Martinez-Estrella was hit with the highest sentence of 25 years to life behind bars on the second-degree homicide cost, Bronx prosecutors stated.
The vicious homicide shocked the Large Apple for its mindless brutality.
Martinez-Estrella and his cowardly crew had been out searching for members of the rival “Sunsets” gang once they noticed Guzman-Feliz close to the bodega — and chased him inside.
Regardless of the teenager’s claims that he wasn’t a gang member, the mob beat him within the retailer, then dragged him into the road and hacked him to demise with knives and machetes, leaving his lifeless physique behind.
Following the arrests, the smug killers smiled and flashed gang indicators in courtroom.
However justice finally caught up with all the suspects.
“Thirteen other defendants who had a role in Junior’s murder on June 20, 2018, have been held accountable for their actions and remain in prison serving their respective sentences,” the Bronx District Lawyer’s Workplace stated in a press launch Friday.
