THE BRONX (PIX11) —- Frame by frame, the video capturing the last few moments of 15-year-old Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz’s life was painfully and slowly broken down to show how the beloved Bronx boy was hunted and killed.
During closing arguments in the ‘Justice for Junior’ trial Wednesday in the Bronx Hall of Justice, Assistant District Attorney Morgan Dolan methodically showed the footage of the planning and execution of ‘Junior,’ playing on the jury’s emotions.
The panel will begin its deliberations Thursday.
Defendants Diego Suero and Frederick Then, alleged leaders of the Los Sures set of the Trinitarios gang, are facing murder, manslaughter, and gang assault charges in connection to the incident. Suero, who was not at the scene, is accused of ordering the hit on the teen. Then was seen on video outside the bodega making sure his boss’ mission was completed, prosecutors allege.
On June 20, 2018, Junior was slain by a group of Trinitarios gang members at the corner of 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue in Tremont. He was dragged out of a bodega and onto the street where he was stabbed with a knife and machete in a case of mistaken identity, authorities said.
“They went out to kill because of their orders,” Dolan told the jury while pointing at the defendants.
The state contends the crew gathered at Suero’s house before the attack, and he allegedly gave the “357” kill order before his troops were sent out on their task. They armed themselves with machetes and knives, piled into four cars, fueled up at the gas station, and went hunting for rival Sunset gang members.
Dolan said their execution mirrored a coordinated “military-style” attack.
“People act this way because they were told to,” Dolan told the jury. “That’s how orders get followed.”
In addition to the videos, the prosecutor showed the jury what appeared to be a text message exchange between Suero and one of his soldiers.
“You are the one that gave the light for the kid.. and for all of Sunset,” the text said.
“Yes, yes for all of Sunset,” Suero replied, according to the exchange.
The defense, however, contends there was never a kill order or any intent to kill Junior, and the one member who dealt the fatal blow went rogue, according to Then’s lawyer, Larry Sheehan.
“There was never an order to kill,” he said.
To prove it, the defense went after the state’s two main cooperating witnesses, Kevin Alvarez and Michael Reyes, painting them as liars with motives to deceive in order to preserve their cushy plea deals with the state.
The lawyer said the two were complicit in Junior’s death by cornering him near St. Barnabas Hospital and forcing him to head to the bodega. There, they lied to the workers about how the teen was a gang member and how he had shot someone.
Alvarez was caught on surveillance video beating Junior before hauling him out of the store where he was repeatedly stabbed. The lethal blow was a four-and-half-inch plunge into his jugular, causing the teen to bleed out, Sheehan said.
“Don’t be fooled by the cooperators,” he told the jury.
Dolan told the panel the videos corroborate the testimony of Alvarez and Reyes.
The only consensus is that Junior should have never died.
