A 20-year-old aspiring MS-13 member used his girlfriend to lure 17-year-old Andy Peralta to his death in Queens on April 13, 2018. The defendant and two others beat, choked, and stabbed Peralta; an autopsy established manual strangulation as the cause of death. The defendant kept a photo of the body and boasted about the killing to gain gang admission. Prosecutors sought a 50-year sentence while defense sought 30 years; the defendant pleaded as part of a deal allowing 30 years to life. A judge sentenced him to 45 years amid rebukes of defense claims.
It is mind-blowing to this court that you could argue that, when that young man died of strangulation, and your client strangled him,
He put his hands around his throat, and he strangled him to death.
This was a plot to kill a child, someone who was a stranger,
No one ordered them to do this. There was no clique leader, there was no clique. There were no orders from El Salvador.
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