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Marcelo Lucero Case: Witness Speaks to Teens’ Whereabouts on Night of Alleged Attack

Posted April 9, 2010 by Ted Hesson
Categories: Hate Watch

Testifying in his own murder trial yesterday, Jeffrey Conroy said that on the night of the alleged attack on Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero, he and the six other defendants went from Southaven Park to Patchogue, without stopping in Medford, as fellow defendant Nicholas Hausch testified earlier in the trial.

Conroy also testified that he only got into the SUV with the other defendants because he thought he could get a ride to a friend’s house, where he planned to sleep over that night.

But testimony this morning by one of Nicholas Hausch’s neighbors directly contradicts Conroy’s version of events.

Medford resident Arturo Perez said that he saw Hausch and a group of kids coming out of woods near his property around 11pm on the night of the alleged attack on Lucero.

Hausch testified to as much when he took the stand as part of a plea deal earlier in the trial, stating that the teens went hunting for “beaners” in Medford that night at his suggestion. Hausch told the group that there were homeless people in a sump nearby his home, and that he believed the homeless people to be Hispanic.

According to Hausch’s testimony, the group drove to his Medford neighborhood from Southaven Park before rerouting to Patchogue, where they eventually encountered Lucero and his friend Angel Loja. The teens didn’t find any homeless people to attack in the woods nearby his house, so they returned to Jordan Dasche’s SUV, Hausch testified.

On the stand yesterday, Jeffrey Conroy contradicted Hausch’s version of events, saying that the group drove directly to Patchogue, and didn’t stop in Hausch’s neighborhood.

Conroy said that he intended to visited friend that night who lived in an area along the route from Southaven park to Patchogue, and that he only got into Jordan Dasche’s SUV because he needed a ride.

Perez took the witness stand today as a rebuttal witness for the prosecution, and was able to corroborate Hausch’s version of events.

After seeing the kids in the woods that night—along with a parked SUV—Perez didn’t initially mention it to anyone. But when one of his grandsons came home from school a few days later and told him that Hausch was in trouble, Perez thought that “maybe something happened in the woods,” and decided to contact the police.

At the time, Perez didn’t realize that there were homeless people living in that area, but a few months ago he heard about “tents on the backside of people’s property.”

Court is adjourned for today, and will resume at 9:30am on Monday, when the jury will hear closing statements from the prosecution and defense.

Tags : hate crimes, jeffrey conroy, marcelo lucero, nicholas hausch, suffolk

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