Bronx gang member who struck fatal knife blow against Lesandro ‘Junior' Guzman Feliz resentenced
The Bronx gang member accused of delivering the fatal blow against 15-year-old Lesandro 'Junior' Guzman Feliz, but managed to get his first-degree murder conviction tossed, was resentenced to 25 years to life in the case that rattled the city to its core, officials said Saturday.
Jonaiki Martinez-Estrella, 30, was initially facing life in prison without the possibility of parole when an appeals court vacated his murder one conviction in 2023, finding that 'the evidence did not establish the very specific elements of that crime.'
Martinez-Estrella remained convicted of second-degree murder, conspiracy, and gang assault. On Friday, a Bronx Criminal Court judge resentenced him to 25 years to life, Bronx DA Darcel Clark said.
'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,' Clark said.
The killing, in which Junior was dragged into the street and slashed to death, drew outrage in the city at the time.
The suspects, members of the Trinitarios gang were looking for a rival gang known as the Sunsets when they spotted their 15-year-old victim, police said at the time.
Mistaking Junior for a Sunset member, they chased the teen to the Cruz and Chiky Grocery on E. 183rd St. near Bathgate Ave. in Belmont. There, several members yanked Junior out of the deli and butchered him with knives and a machete.
Martinez-Estrella was caught on camera 'holding Junior by his sweatshirt' before he 'thrust his large knife directly into Junior's throat,' according to court papers.
'It is undisputed that the resulting wound, which was 4 and a half inches deep and severed the jugular vein, was the sole cause of death,' the documents read.
A jury convicted Martinez-Estrella of first-degree murder, but the appellate court determined that prosecutors provided evidence that the one blow was a 'course of conduct' that inflicted 'extreme physical pain,' or that he 'evidenced a sense of pleasure in the infliction of extreme physical pain' — both requirements for the charge.
In an exclusive 2019 interview Martinez-Estrella claimed he didn't kill Junior. He said he didn't have a tattoo like the one depicted on the killer and was in Pennsylvania at the time of the murder.
'[I] didn't even know what Junior looked like until I saw his face on television,' he said at a Manhattan Detention Center awaiting trial.
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