Home > Our Blog > Opening Statements in Trial of Teen Accused of Murdering Marcelo Lucero

Blog Post

Opening Statements in Trial of Teen Accused of Murdering Marcelo Lucero

Posted March 18, 2010 by Ted Hesson
Categories: Hate Watch

The murder of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero in November 2008 represented the ugly culmination of a series of attacks targeting Latinos in the Patchogue area, assistant district attorney Megan O’Donnell asserted during opening statements this morning in the trial of Jeffrey Conroy. Conroy faces murder and manslaughter charges in the stabbing and death of Lucero.

Of Conroy and his fellow alleged attackers, O’Donnell said, “They were in Patchogue for one reason and one reason only: looking for blood, Mexican blood.”

In her opening statements, O’Donnell recounted her version of the events that would eventually lead to Lucero’s death. On November 8, 2008, she said, Marcelo and his childhood friend Angel Loja ate dinner, drank beers, smoked marijuana together, and were heading to a friend’s house near the Patchogue train station to watch a movie.

O’Donnell referred to the marijuana use, along with the omission that Lucero had used cocaine in the past, as “embarrassing details,” and The New York Times has reported that alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine were all found in Lucero’s system during the autopsy.

In Medford, Jeffrey Conroy and his six co-defendants—four of which have already pleaded guilty in the case—were also “coming together, talking, drinking beer,” O’Donnell said. “Not much different from Angel and Marcelo, planning out their night.”

“What was different was this group’s plan for the night,” O’Donnell said. “Beaner hopping, Mexican hopping.”

O’Donnell walked the jury through the charges against Conroy, among those murder in the second degree and manslaughter in the first degree, both as hate crimes. Conroy is also charged with three counts of attempted assault, which stem from attacks against Loja, another Latino man that Conroy and his friends allegedly targeted earlier that night, and a third Latino man who was allegedly attacked and knocked unconscious by Conroy and several friends on Nov. 3, 2008.

O’Donnell went on to describe how Conroy and the other alleged attackers hopped in an SUV and began trolling for “Mexicans” in the Patchogue area. “This was a sport, ladies and gentlemen,” O’Donnell said, “and you will learn that Patchogue and Medford were the preferred venues.”

After attacking Hector Sierra, a Latino man on his way home from work, the group came upon Lucero and Loja, who were nearby their friend’s house close to the Patchogue train station.

During the attack, O’Donnell said, Conroy brought out his knife—which he knew how to use, according to her—and thrust it into Lucero’s upper-right chest area. An hour and twenty minutes later, Lucero was pronounced dead, she said.

Conroy’s intent to murder Lucero would be clear to the jury after they saw the evidence in the case, O’Donnell told them. “There will be no doubt that the defendant intended at that split moment in time to end the life of Marcelo Lucero,” she said.

While O’Donnell narrated the night Lucero of Lucero’s alleged murder, Conroy’s defense lawyer, William Keahon, spent most of his time reminding the jury that Conroy should presumed innocent, and that opening statements by the prosecution are not yet proven, and only offer a preview of what O’Donnell hopes to prove during the trial.

“During my examination of some of their witnesses, I will bring out important facts to you that the district attorney promises not to bring out,” Keahon said. “And I promise you that they will be facts so important that they will help you decide this case.”

As anticipated, the courtroom was nearly full with family and friends of both the defendant and the victim, and television camera swarmed the hallway outside the courtroom. Roughly two dozen of Conroy’s friends and family, including his father, turned out for this morning’s opening statements, occupying the first few rows. Joselo Lucero, Marcelo’s brother, was also present, sitting in the back of the room with a group of supporters.

Tags : hate crimes, jeffrey conroy, marcelo lucero

Permalink Comments