Three of the defendants involved in the murder case of Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz appeared in court on Tuesday and were offered plea deals.
Daniel Fernandez, Luis Cabrera Santos, and Gabriel Ramirez Concepcion are charged in the 2018 killing of Junior outside of a bodega in Belmont.
All three defendants traveled to court from Rikers Island, where they are currently in custody. They were each offered plea deals separately in exchange for shorter sentences for their suspected individual roles in Junior’s murder.
Fernandez was offered a plea deal of 18 years in prison followed by five years of supervision if he pleads guilty to first-degree manslaughter, the highest prison sentence on the table for the defendants.
Santos and Concepcion were both offered 12 years behind bars with five years of supervision following the sentence in exchange for their guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter.
The Bronx assistant district attorney told the judge that Fernandez is accused of dragging Junior outside of the bodega where he was stabbed to death by gang members.
They also said that Santos is suspected of driving gang leaders to the scene of the crime and operating as the getaway driver, and that Concepcion is accused of driving people to the crime scene and leaving after the stabbing, which is apparently on video.
Fourteen people have been indicted in this case, with seven already serving time for murder convictions.
All three defendants’ attorneys said in court they need to discuss the deal further with their clients, with Fernandez's attorney looking to lower his plea deal prison time.
Their next scheduled court appearance is on Nov. 30. If no plea deal is reached, the judge says that individual trials for the defendants will begin in early January.