Jury duty
I’m currently sifting through my past files and letting the winds of optimism blow away the chaff. I just found my letter excusing me from jury duty for another year, since I served over eleven days back in 2002. A quick internet search turned up an appeal to the case I sat on (People v. Ubaldo Romero, et al.). Here is their description of the original crime, which does not capture much of the nuance and drama, like the brothers’ mother’s passing that very day:
On November 1, 1990, Rafael Baez, Etienne Adorno and Demetrio Flores drove to a location in northern Manhattan, ostensibly for the purpose of robbing a drug dealer. Upon arrival, Baez exited the car to make a telephone call. At about the same time, a group of men armed with guns emerged from a nearby apartment building, approached the vehicle and fired their weapons, killing both Adorno and Flores.
According to various accounts, defendant Ubaldo Romero, his three brothers (codefendants Robert, George and Julio Romero) and a 14-year-old boy (referred to as Wilson C.) committed the murders. The Romero brothers operated a narcotics trafficking enterprise and used street dealers in the area where Adorno, Baez and Flores had gone to commit the robbery. Alerted to the presence of the would-be robbers, the Romeros, accompanied by Wilson C., went to an apartment and gathered firearms. Some witnesses recounted that after the group exited the building, one of the Romeros managed to get close to the car and shot at the driver. Defendant and Wilson C. simultaneously fired their weapons toward the vehicle. The perpetrators then fled the scene.
A police investigation revealed that Adorno and Flores had been shot multiple times and that neither man fired back at their assailants. Although the police were initially unable to identify the shooters, over the course of a decade investigators uncovered evidence that led them to suspect the Romeros. In 1999, the Romeros and Wilson C. were jointly indicted for two counts of intentional murder in the second degree. Wilson C. pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree and, because of his age at the time of crime, was sentenced as a juvenile offender. The Romeros opted for a jury trial, which resulted in a mistrial when the jury could not render a unanimous verdict.
At the retrial, the defense challenged the credibility of the People’s witnesses based on inconsistencies in their factual recollections and because they had entered into cooperation agreements with the prosecution in return for favorable treatment regarding their own criminal activities. Ultimately, the jury acquitted George and Julio Romero but convicted Robert Romero and defendant of both homicide counts.
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