The Junior Guzman video showed the terrible killing of a 15-year-old who was pursued and assaulted by suspected members of the Trinitarios gang in the Bronx in June.
The video was recorded on surveillance footage and bystanders’ cell phones.
Earlier in 2020, it was disclosed that Jessica Krug, a white woman who pretended to be black, had celebrated the killing as a “revolutionary moment” because Junior had aspired to be a police officer and incorrectly claimed that he was targeted for being a snitch.
The killing and Krug’s remarks have once again drawn attention to the problem of gang violence and the effect it has on communities.
What occured to Junior Guzman? Was his murderer charged?
A New York state appeals court has overturned the first-degree murder conviction against Jonaiki Martinez Estrella, a member of the Trinitarios gang who delivered the machete blow that killed 15-year-old Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz in 2018.
Martinez Estrella was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the caught-on-camera killing but must now be resentenced on the lesser second-degree murder conviction, for which he’ll face up to 25 years to life behind bars, the appellate court ruled.
While the “extremely heinous” killing “clearly depicted” Martinez Estrella delivering the fatal slash to Guzman-Feliz’s neck, the judges found that prosecutors failed to meet the high bar for proving first-degree murder in Martinez Estrella’s case.
Specifically, they failed to prove that he inflicted torture on the victim within the meaning of the statute in two respects: that he engaged in a “course of conduct” meant to “torture” Guzman-Feliz and that he “relished” or took pleasure in the murder.
Martinez Estrella was among several Trinitarios who dragged Guzman-Feliz out of a Bronx bodega and stabbed him outside on the sidewalk, falsely believing the teen was part of a rival gang.
The killing rocked the city and grabbed national attention. Martinez Estrella’s lawyer explained that first-degree murder charges are normally reserved for cop killings and acts of terrorism.
For first-degree murder charges to be applied outside those situations, prosecutors must prove the additional elements that the perpetrator carried out a “course of conduct” with the intention of torturing the victim — meaning they got pleasure from the act.
“There was simply no evidence that could have possibly satisfied the elements of first-degree murder on the theory of torture,” the lawyer said. “As such, the court properly reversed appellant’s conviction of that crime. It must be stressed that it is extremely difficult to satisfy the elements of first-degree murder under the theory of torture,” he added.
Jessica Krug was under fire while endorsing the killing of Guzman
Jessica Krug, a former professor of African Studies at George Washington University, came under fire for comments she made at a Columbia University panel in 2019, where she appeared to endorse the killing of a 15-year-old boy, Lesandro ‘Junior’ Guzman-Feliz, who was hacked to death by a Dominican street gang in the Bronx in 2018.
Krug, who admitted to pretending to be black for decades while becoming a prominent opponent of systemic racism, dismissed Guzman-Feliz, who was a member of the NYPD’s Explorers youth program, as a ‘collaborator’ who worked against his own community and was targeted because ‘snitches get stitches.’
Speaking on the panel, Krug compared the attack to ‘necklacing,’ the gruesome execution method used to punish black police informants in apartheid-era South Africa, and appeared to endorse the use of violence against those who work against their communities.
The revelation of Krug’s comments prompted outrage, with many critics describing her words as inciting violence and condoning murder.
Krug’s comments have also been seen as a further indictment of her previous claims to be a black woman, which many have described as an attempt to gain personal and professional advantages by appropriating a culture and history that is not her own.
Krug’s deception was revealed in a blog post, in which she admitted to living her life as a white Jewish woman from Kansas City, Missouri, but pretending to be black or Hispanic for decades.
In the post, titled ‘The Truth, and the Anti-Black Violence of My Lies,’ Krug acknowledged that she had ‘eschewed’ her lived experience as a white Jewish child in suburban Kansas City under various assumed identities within a Blackness that she had no right to claim.
Following the revelation of her deception, Krug resigned from her position at George Washington University. Many of her former colleagues and students have spoken out against her, expressing shock and disbelief at the extent of her deception.
Krug’s comments at the Columbia University panel have only added to the controversy surrounding her, with many now calling for her to be held accountable for her words and actions.
This text discusses the Junior Guzman video, which apparently depicts the horrific murder of a 15-year-old. As a reader, I am deeply disturbed by the subject matter. The mention of a video capturing such a gruesome act is both shocking and unsettling. It is tragic to think that someone so young could be the victim of such violence. I hope that justice is served and that steps are taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.