A jury in Orange County is deciding the fate of Douglas McFarlane, accused of being the triggerman in a 2019 contract killing that left a Middletown father dead inside his own home and went unsolved for more than five years. McFarlane faces first- and second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of 26-year-old Sebastian Avilan-Medina, who was found fatally shot at his Knapp Avenue home on March 11, 2019.
Avilan-Medina, who owned Avilan Auto Sales, was 26 and from Middletown, according to News 12. Middletown police spent more than five years chasing hundreds of leads before anyone was arrested, according to News 12 New Jersey. That changed in 2024, when police arrested McFarlane, Sheldon Paul and Dijion Constantine, finally putting names to a killing that had gone cold since the shooting.
A Case Built on Phone Records and a Co-Defendant's Testimony
Prosecutors allege McFarlane took $10,000 to fatally shoot the Middletown business owner, according to News 12 reporter Blaise Gomez, as cited by The New York Post. Prosecutors have said Sheldon Paul paid McFarlane in March 2019 because Paul believed Avilan-Medina had burglarized his home, while separately alleging that Paul conspired with others to burglarize Avilan-Medina's home and arrange his killing, per the same News 12 report. At trial, prosecutors cited phone records, surveillance footage and testimony Constantine gave as part of his guilty plea, according to the Post's report. McFarlane's defense attorneys countered by pointing to a lack of DNA evidence and calling the district attorney's case circumstantial, the Post noted.
McFarlane's trial went to the jury Wednesday after closing arguments, per the Post. As deliberations got underway, McFarlane attempted to hide his face from courtroom cameras and then made a vulgar gesture toward them, News 12 reported. Gomez said McFarlane appeared to give him the finger while he took court-approved photos, a moment captured as the News 12 reporter posted that a jury was deliberating McFarlane's fate.
Co-Defendants Took Different Paths Through the Courts
Dijion Constantine, 23 and from the Bronx, was charged with the March 11, 2019 murder of Avilan-Medina. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in June 2024, according to News 12 Long Island. Prosecutors say Constantine was paid in marijuana for his role in the killing, per the Post's reporting, and he is due to be sentenced next month. News 12's report notes that Constantine testified against his two co-defendants and will not be sentenced until their cases are resolved.
Sheldon Paul's path through the courts has been its own saga. His first trial ended in a mistrial in April after jurors cited conflicting evidence and could not reach a unanimous verdict, the outlet reported. Following the mistrial, the Orange County district attorney's office said it was ready to proceed with a new trial, according to Spectrum News. Earlier this month, Paul was convicted of second-degree murder at his second trial, and he is due to be sentenced in January 2027 facing up to 25 years to life in prison, per the Post's account. A separate Orange County government newsflash states that Paul, 42, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder after a jury trial on October 2, 2026, and faces up to 25 years to life with sentencing scheduled for January 21, 2027 — though that detail comes from a single government source snippet.
A Father Reflects on a Roller Coaster of a Case
Avilan-Medina's son was just one year old when his father was killed, a fact that has shadowed the family throughout the long investigation and trials. Bryan Avilan described the experience as a roller coaster of emotions in comments to News 12, and he said the family tried to shield the boy from details of the slaying. He added that it was hard to go through everything that happened to his son, telling News 12 how difficult the years of waiting for answers have been.
With McFarlane's jury now deliberating, the case that once sat cold for five years is finally nearing a resolution for at least one of the three men charged. Constantine's guilty plea and Paul's conviction have already closed two chapters, while McFarlane's outcome remains in the jury's hands.
