A Manhattan jury is now deciding whether Randy Santos, 31, was legally insane when he allegedly bludgeoned four homeless men to death with a metal bar in Chinatown in October 2019, or whether he should be held fully responsible and face the possibility of life in prison.
Closing arguments wrapped up Thursday, Feb. 19, in a case that has haunted Lower Manhattan since those predawn sidewalk killings. Santos has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His attorneys say he was living with untreated schizophrenia and hearing voices that ordered him to kill, setting up a high-stakes clash over his mental state on the night of the attacks.
Defense lays out insanity case
The defense has not tried to convince jurors that Santos was uninvolved. Instead, they argue that psychosis, not hatred or cold calculation, drove his actions. On the stand, Santos's brother recounted handing him a butter knife the night of the attacks and hearing Santos say horror-movie killers were telling him what to do. A clinical expert testified that Santos experienced auditory hallucinations and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
"His irrational thinking made it impossible for him to understand the difference between what was right or wrong," Dr. Virginia Barber-Rioja testified, as reported by NY1.
Prosecution highlights physical evidence
Prosecutors counter that this was not a man lost in delusion but someone making lethal, deliberate choices. They point to surveillance footage, forensic findings and eyewitness accounts that, in their telling, show Santos calmly and intentionally targeting vulnerable men as they slept outdoors.
Jurors saw the metal bar police seized when Santos was arrested, which investigators say was stained with blood and hair and contained DNA. They also heard testimony that he appeared to pause to avoid being seen and that he allegedly carried out a "trial run" a week earlier. Assistant District Attorney Alfred Peterson urged jurors to reject the insanity claim and conclude that Santos "knew exactly what he was doing," according to AP News.
The victims and the 2019 attacks
The violence unfolded in the early hours of Oct. 5, 2019, on and around the sidewalks of Manhattan’s Chinatown. Several men who were sleeping outdoors were struck. Four later died and have been identified in court filings and news reports as Florencio Moran, Nazario Vásquez Villegas, Anthony Manson and Chuen Kok. Prosecutors say two other men were left critically injured.
Police arrested Santos nearby, carrying the metal bar authorities say was used in the assaults. That account was detailed when the case first made headlines in 2019 and has been echoed in recent trial coverage by NY1.
What a verdict could mean
If jurors accept Santos's plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, he would likely be committed to a secure psychiatric facility rather than sent to a traditional prison. That type of civil commitment is not on a fixed timetable and can last indefinitely, depending on ongoing evaluations of risk and mental health.
If the jury rejects the insanity defense and finds him guilty, Santos faces the prospect of a sentence that could include life behind bars on first-degree murder charges. Insanity defenses are rarely successful in New York, and this panel will be asked to sift through clashing psychiatric testimony before it reaches a decision, as noted in national coverage by AP News.
Broader context: homelessness and gaps in care
The case has thrown a harsh spotlight on New York City's long-running struggles with homelessness and untreated serious mental illness. Advocates have repeatedly warned that tens of thousands of people cycle through the shelter system and thousands more live on the streets, while housing and mental health services fall short of the need.
Those systemic strains, from overcrowded shelters to overburdened behavioral health programs, are detailed in analyses such as the Coalition for the Homeless's State of the Homeless report, which tracks years of pressure on both housing and psychiatric care resources; see Coalition for the Homeless.
What's next
With closing arguments now complete, the 12-member jury is expected to begin deliberations soon. Court officials will announce the outcome once jurors reach a verdict.
