Jonaiki Martinez-Estrella, the gang member convicted of murdering 15-year-old Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz in 2018, was found dead in his prison cell at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility, as reported by the New York State Department of Corrections. At age 31, Martinez-Estrella was serving a sentence of 25 years to life after an appeals court recently reduced his initial first-degree murder conviction.
Officials discovered Martinez-Estrella unresponsive last Friday afternoon, attempting to quickly but unsuccessfully administer life-saving measures which included CPR, Narcan, and an AED device. The cause of death is pending investigation by the Greene County medical examiner. A member of the Trinitarios gang, Martinez-Estrella was involved in the brutal killing of Guzman-Feliz, who was mistakenly targeted and dragged out of a Bronx bodega before being fatally slashed with a machete, according to CBS News New York.
In the aftermath of the incident, the victim's mother, Leandra Feliz, expressed her feelings about Martinez-Estrella's death in a statement saying, "He deserved it," in an interview obtained by the New York Post. She emphasized that his demise doesn't compensate for the loss and suffering her family has endured, but concluded saying, "When you use your life to be a gang member, it's only going to go one of two ways." She continued, "Either going to jail or you're going to the cemetery. He went [to] both. That’s the way life works."
The initial ruling condemning Martinez-Estrella to life without parole was for a first-degree murder charge, a ruling that was later altered by an appellate court which found that prosecutors did not conclusively prove the requirements of first-degree murder. The revised verdict found Martinez-Estrella guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, along with conspiracy and gang assault which had him face 25 years to life behind bars. Despite the unraveling of legal proceedings, Martinez-Estrella's end came inside the confines of prison, the circumstances surrounding his death are still not disclosed. State prison officials indicated that the definitive cause of his death will be established following a coroner's examination, details to emerge in due time.
