By JUSTICE CAMBELL
Four gang members were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after being convicted of robbery and murder at trial earlier this year. Today a fifth gang member has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty.
“Today’s sentencing brings to justice the final defendant in this harrowing case in which an innocent young man was killed and his brother was injured. We have now held all five defendants who participated in the robbery accountable and ensured they will spend many years in prison for their actions,” says Acting District Attorney Gonzalez.
The defendant has been identified as Celestino Martinez, 25, of Prospect Park South, in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Laporte sentenced him to 20 years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision following his guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter on August 16, 2017. Four co-defendants, Carmello Bello, 28, and Miguel Bello, 34, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Javier Ortiz, 35, and Martin Carillo, 36 of Sunset Park, Brooklyn were convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree robbery earlier this year following a jury trial before Justice Laporte. Each of the defendants was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
On September 7, 2014, at approximately 1:50 a.m., on Myrtle Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant, the defendants approached and demanded money from the victims, Juan Carlos Luna-Juarez, 23, and his 27-year-old brother as they returned home from work. The defendants, repeatedly punched, kicked and stabbed the two victims, when they did not comply. According to the trial testimony the defendants stole a bike and backpack. Juan Juarez was stabbed approximately 10 times and died as the result of a puncture wound to the heart, said The Acting District Attorney.
Shortly after the attack all members of the Ninos Malos gang, were apprehended near the crime scene. Two of the defendants had blood on their clothing, which was later determined to belong to the victims, and officers found a knife in the pocket of one defendant, at the time of their arrest. Two additional knives were recovered from the crime scene. The evidence also showed that the defendant Miguel Bello subsequently admitted to being at the crime scene and stabbing someone.
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