Justice For Junior Trial: Suspect's Girlfriend Claims He Told Her To Lie To Police
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The "Justice for Junior" trial is now in its fourth week.
New witnesses testified Tuesday about the killing of 15-year-old Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, known as Junior. They included the girlfriend of one of the suspects, who says she was told to lie to police.
CBS2's Lisa Rozner was in court.
The trial testimony was delayed nearly three hours this morning because two of the five defendants didn't want to come to court.
So far, three crime scene unit detectives and the girlfriend of one of the suspects testified. From her, we learned new information about what happened in the days following Junior's murder.
Junior's father Lisandro Guzman listened intently as the girlfriend of suspect Elvin Garcia described seeing her boyfriend's wounded hand with a hole in it.
Yudelvi Mena said she went with him to New York Presbyterian-Columbia Hospital in Manhattan hours after he and Trinitarios gang members stabbed Junior outside a bodega on East 183rd Street in the Belmont section.
Through her testimony, it was uncovered that fellow suspect Manuel Rivera accidentally stabbed Garcia, but Garcia told her to tell the police he was injured in a fight over her at a nearby park.
Later, the couple watched the notorious bodega video together, and Garcia allegedly pointed himself out.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Toni Messina asked Mena "He told you the intention was to hurt the person [Junior] and not to kill him?"
The girlfriend answered "Yes."
Last week, former gang member and cooperating witness Kevin Alvarez testified the suspects mistakenly believed Junior was part of the rival Sunset gang.
Junior's mom was not here Tuesday. Last week she had a medical episode in court. She later told reporters she had a nervous breakdown after seeing new footage of her son in the bodega prior to the murder.
The trial resumes Thursday.