Home > Our Blog > Jeffrey Conroy Gets Maximum Sentence in Marcelo Lucero Killing

Blog Post

Jeffrey Conroy Gets Maximum Sentence in Marcelo Lucero Killing

Posted May 26, 2010 by Ted Hesson
Categories: Suffolk

Jeffrey Conroy, convicted this April of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime in the killing of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero, received the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison this afternoon at criminal court in Riverhead.

Before issuing the verdict, Justice Robert W. Doyle spoke favorably of the jury’s decision to convict Conroy.

“The proof of the defendant’s guilt, in my opinion was overwhelming,” Doyle said. “The selection of victims in these crimes based on their ethnicity is most disturbing.”

In addition to the 25-year sentence for first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime, Conroy received a 25-year sentence for first-degree gang assault as a hate crime, the maximum permitted.

Additionally, Conroy was sentenced to a maximum of 4 years for conspiracy related to the Lucero killing, and three sentences of a maximum of 7 years for attempted assault charges related to attacks on Angel Loja, Hector Sierra, and Octavio Cordova.

All of the sentences will run concurrently, Justice Doyle said, which means that the longest amount of time that Conroy will spend in prison will be 25 years.

After Doyle finished reading the sentences, but while he was still on the bench, the defendant’s father, Robert Conroy, stood up and shouted angrily as he left the courtroom.

“He was fucking 17,” Conroy shouted. “This is mercy for crying out loud? Jesus fucking Christ.”

After a moment of hesitation, court officers moved towards Conroy and walked him out of the courtroom, but not before he pounded his fists on the doors leading out of court.

Before Doyle issued the sentences, the court heard petitions from the defense and the prosecution.

Defense attorney William Keahon read letters from Conroy’s friends and acquaintances that had been sent to the court on the defendant’s behalf, stressing his past involvement with sports mentoring and fundraising.

Among the seven or eight letters read by Keahon was one from Robert Carruthers*, whose son had played sports with Conroy.

“My heart goes out to both families,” Carruthers said. “But to lock up a young boy for a long period of time will not change what happened that night.”

After Keahon read the letters, the defendant addressed the court.

“I’m really sorry for what happened to Mr. Lucero,” Conroy said. “Every day I wish it never happened.”

For the prosecution, assistant district attorney Megan O’Donnell asked that Marcelo Lucero’s brother and sister, Joselo and Isabel, be allowed to address Doyle.

Speaking in English, Joselo referenced the deep pain caused by the loss of his brother.

“I don’t want to wish bad for another human being,” Joselo said. “But when I remember my brother and I’m watching every single detail of how he died, I get angry…Sometimes I want to kill myself,” he said. “I want to take my car and get [it] crashed somewhere.”

Joselo also said that he didn’t want someone roaming the streets who would “hunt people down because they look different.”

O’Donnell also cited a probation report that detailed past run-ins that Conroy had with law enforcement and school authorities.

On May 10, 2008, Conroy was arrested for punching a young man in the face and head, O’Donnell said. And in July 2008, he was a person of interest—along with Jose Pacheco, another Lucero attacker—regarding slashed tires at a Hyundai dealership in Medford.

From 2006-2008, Conroy had 24 disciplinary infractions at school, for a variety of offensives including cutting class and using foul language with teachers.

O’Donnell concluded by saying that hate crimes “tear at the very fabric of our society,” and asking Doyle to look beyond the individual being sentenced and consider the element of deterrence in his decision.

Before issuing the sentence, Justice Doyle called the killing “a senseless and brutal crime,” and said that, “in this case, there are no winners.”

Some thoughts on the sentence.

*I’m not positive that I have the correct spelling of that last name.

Tags : hate crimes, marcelo lucero, suffolk

Permalink Comments