Thread: PA-Ecuadorean Man Sentenced for 2008 Truck Murder Outside Be

There's a picture of this jerk at the link. He looks straight out of the jungle.

by KYW's Brad Segall

An illegal alien from Ecuador who turned his truck into a murder weapon late last year outside a Bensalem, Pa. bar will spend 20 to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder charges in a Bucks County courtroom.

Prosecutors say José Maldonado-Luzuriaga (above) went to Salute Bar on Knights Road to drink the night of November 29th, but bartenders refused to serve the visibly intoxicated man.

Investigators say Maldonado-Luzuriaga got angry, climbed into his truck, hit the gas pedal, and drove toward two bar employees. One of them, Billy Sullo, couldn’t get out of the way. He was pinned against a wall and killed.

Chief deputy DA Robin Twombly says the 30-year-old victim’s family was in the courtroom on Monday and told the judge how they’ve been impacted by this senseless killing:

"Any time you lose a family member so tragically and violently that nothing is going to please them. But I think that he took responsibility and they can get some closure for this part of the grieving process and get their piece of justice and move on.â€

Man who crashed truck into bar employee gets 20 to 40 years

Posted in News on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 2:53 pm by Courthouse reporter Laurie mason

An illegal immigrant who used his pickup truck as a weapon during a drunken rage last year, fatally pinning a Philadelphia man against a building, was sentenced Monday to 20 to 40 years in a state prison.
Jose Esteban Maldonado-Luzuriaga, 35, pleaded guilty before Bucks County Judge Jeffrey Finley to third-degree murder and aggravated assault. With the help of an interpreter, he admitted to killing 30-year-old William J. Sullo III outside a Bensalem bar.
“I ask for one thousand apologies for what happened,â€

Witness: Murder victim’s last words were “Let me goâ€

Feds say they’ll crack down on illegal immigration in wake of recent murder

Posted in News on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 2:37 pm by Crime reporter Ben Finley

Federal and local officials are stepping up their efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants in Bucks and Montgomery counties, officials announced today.The federal government will now check the immigration status of every new prison booked in county prison and the feds will be automatically notified when a non-U.S. citizen is booked into custody here or in Montgomery County, according to statement released by U.S. District Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia today.

The new efforts will be conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office.

Although it wasn’t mentioned in the release, an illegal immigrant living in Bensalem was charged last month with killing a Bensalem bartender by ramming him to death with a landscaping truck. The preliminary hearing for Jose Esteban Maldonado-Luzuriaga, who has been charged with vehicular homicide and other felony counts, is scheduled to occur this afternoon in district court in Bensalem.

So much for the big "crack down".