Thread: MD Teen Is Given 30 Years In Gang-Related Killing

PRINCE GEORGE'S COURTS
Teen Is Given 30 Years In Gang-Related Killing

By Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 14, 2009; Page B04

An alleged member of a violent street gang pleaded guilty yesterday and was sentenced to 30 years in prison for fatally stabbing a 15-year-old student outside a Prince George's County high school last spring.

Rony Izaguirre-Henriquez, 18, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and participating in a gang crime that lead to death. The gang offense is the first time Prince George's prosecutors have obtained a conviction under an anti-gang law enacted by state legislators last year, a spokesman for State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said.

Guillermo Enrique Medina was killed April 2 as he walked home from Parkdale High School in Riverdale. Izaguirre-Henriquez was sentenced under the terms of a plea agreement, and prosecutors said federal authorities could also seek to deport him.

Given the chance by Circuit Court Judge Larnzell Martin Jr. to speak before the sentence was imposed, Izaguirre-Henriquez, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, stood and told Guillermo's parents that their son was not the innocent boy they thought he was.


"There's one way of life at home, and another way of life in the street," Izaguirre-Henriquez, who speaks primarily Spanish, said through an interpreter. "They have to understand, they didn't know he was in a gang, but he was, and that's life, and life has to go on."

Guillermo's parents, who sat in the front row of the courtroom, declined an opportunity to speak in court. They also declined to be interviewed later.

Gulliermo's mother is a hotel maid, and his father supervises delivery trucks for a bakery. They are both from El Salvador, and each has a child in that country. They met in the United States, and Guillermo, the only child they have together, was born in Virginia.

Izaguirre-Henriquez is a member of the MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, street gang, which is composed primarily of Central American immigrants, said police and prosecutors. Investigators think Guillermo was part of a rival group, they said.

Police and prosecutors said Guillermo, known as "Pato," or duck, because he walked like a duck, was trying to avoid a confrontation in the moments before he was killed.

About 2:40 p.m. April 2, Izaguirre-Henriquez jumped out of a gold Honda, approached Guillermo and flashed a gang sign, investigators said. According to witnesses, Guillermo said he didn't want any trouble, said Assistant State's Attorney Wesley Adams. Izaguirre-Henriquez pulled out a knife and stabbed Guillermo in the chest.

Last month, Izaguirre-Henriquez's brother, Walter, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder and was sentenced to five years in prison. Walter, 19, drove his brother to and from the attack, authorities said.

The brothers are immigrants from El Salvador. Federal immigration officials will be notified of their convictions and could take steps to deport them after their prison terms are over, prosecutors said.

Homicide Detective Christopher Smith, the lead police investigator, said the brazen nature of the attack made it unusually easy to find witnesses.

"He did it right in the open, after school," Smith said outside of court. "A lot of people saw it, and a lot of people knew him."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... =sec-metro

30-year Sentence in first-of-its-kind Gang Murder Prosecution
posted 01/13/09 6:44 pm

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - An admitted gang member was sentenced to 30 years in prison Tuesday under a new law designed to get tough on gang violence.

Rony A. Izaguirre-Henriquez, 18, of Hyattsville pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Tuesday in the April 2008 death of 15 year-old high school student, Guillermo E. Medina of New Carrollton. Medina was a member of a rival gang, according to prosecutors.

The defendant showed little remorse in the court room, making a terse statement to the victim's parents that illustrated the brutality of gang life.

Izaguirre-Henriquez told them their son was "in a gang and that is life and life has to go on."

"It really just confirmed how important it is to be able to prosecute the gang members, specifically under the new criminal gang statute," E. Wesley Adams III, Chief of the Prince Georges County State's Attorney's Office Homicide Unit, said. "It's clear that way of life is one that only promotes violence."

The veteran homicide detective who investigated the case called Izaguirre-Henriquez's statement, "cold."

Izaguirre-Henriquez and his brother, Walter Izaguirre-Henriquez, were driving along Goodluck Road on April 2, 2008, when they encountered the victim, who was walking with two friends.

Rony Izaguirre-Henriquez, an admitted member of MS-13, got out of the car, approached the three young men and asked the victim which gang he belong to -- "who he was repping," in the parlance of the street.

Medina, who was associated with the Brown Pride Locos set of the Sur 13, according to prosecutors, said he didn't want any trouble. Rony Izaguirre-Henriquez then pulled out a large butterfly knife and stabbed Medina one time in the chest, killing him, prosecutors said.

Walter Izaguirre-Henriquez, another documented associate of the MS-13 street gang, pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact. He was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in this case on Dec. 2, 2008.

It's believed to be the first case in Maryland prosecuted under the 2007 Criminal Gang Statute.

"We think it provides a good, additional tool in prosecuting these cases," State's Attorney Glenn Ivey said. Probably use a few tweaks and we'll raise that with the General Assembly this year, but it's another tool in the arsenal of attacking this type of gang violence."

http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0109/585273.html