THE BRONX (PIX11) — The mother of Lesandro “Junior” Guzman Feliz, who was just 15 when Trinitarios gang members fatally stabbed him in 2018, will meet the Bronx district attorney Thursday to discuss plea deal offers made to the remaining defendants in the case.
“This is everything good for them; I don’t have my son,” Leandra Feliz told PIX11 News after learning prosecutors publicly offered two defendants—Luis Cabreras Santos and Gabriel Ramirez Concepcion—a potential 12-year prison term, if they plead guilty to manslaughter in the first degree.
Another defendant, Danel Fernandez — who police said was wearing a green du rag on video when he allegedly dragged Junior out of a bodega on June 20, 2018 – was offered a possible sentence of 18 years in prison if he also pleads guilty to manslaughter in the first degree.
Defense attorneys for the three men told prosecutor Morgan Dolan on Tuesday they will confer with their clients about the offer.
“I understand they have a different role,” Leandra Feliz told PIX11 News. “For me, it doesn’t make a difference. They went out in different cars with everybody together. My son is dead.”
The office of Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark has brought seven defendants to trial, so far—in two separate cases—winning murder convictions against all of them.
The first five were convicted in 2019 of murder in the second degree after they were caught on video attacking Junior with knives and a machete. Three of the five received sentences of 25 years to life. The man who inflicted the lethal wound to Junior’s neck, Jonaiki Estrella Martinez, was sentenced to life without parole. A younger defendant received 23 years to life.
The two leaders of the Los Sures set in the Trinitarios gang, accused of giving the order to hunt down members from another set, were convicted this year of murder in the second degree, after the trial was delayed more than two years by the COVID-19 pandemic. Diego Suero and Frederick Then were recently sentenced to 25 years to life. Police said Junior was a victim of mistaken identity.
Patrice O’Shaughnessy, spokesperson for Bronx DA Clark, confirmed Junior’s mom was notified about plea offers before they were made in court and would be meeting with the DA this week.
Three other defendants were scheduled to appear in court this Friday and PIX11 News will keep an eye on the proceedings to see if they publicly receive plea offers.
Junior’s mother noted the six remaining defendants have already spent more than four years detained in the city’s Department of Correction and a plea deal would significantly reduce their remaining time.
