Thread: Newark Triple Murder Suspect Gets 8 Years

Newark Triple Murder Suspect Gets 8 Years in Assault


By KAREEM FAHIM
Published: May 13, 2008

NEWARK — Jose Lachira Carranza, one of six suspects accused of killing three people in a playground last summer, was sentenced on Monday to eight years in prison for assaulting two men during a bar fight in 2006.

The bar brawl drew attention soon after the playground killings, when it was disclosed that Mr. Carranza, 29, an illegal immigrant from Peru, could have been detained by federal authorities after his arrest for assault.

Mr. Carranza was also arrested in 2007, before the Newark playground killings, on charges that he sexually assaulted a child over a four-year period.

The bar fight, at Huguito’s, of West Orange, started with a shoving match involving a friend of Mr. Carranza’s, according to witnesses and the police. In the ensuing violence, Mr. Carranza broke bottles and threw chairs, badly injuring several men.

Only two victims testified against Mr. Carranza. The other victims, said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County prosecutor’s office, were too frightened of him to testify.

In the Newark slayings, the prosecutors charge that Mr. Carranza was among six men and boys who attacked four young adults who were listening to music in a Newark schoolyard last August. Three of them — Iofemi Hightower, Dashon Harvey and Terrance Aeriel — were killed.

Mr. Aeriel’s sister, Natasha Aeriel, was seriously injured, and is now in a witness protection program, according to prosecutors.

The news that Mr. Carranza could have been kept in federal detention after any of his previous arrests became fodder for a national immigration debate. It also prompted the New Jersey attorney general, Anne Milgram, to direct local police officers to ask the immigration status of people they arrested for felony crimes or drunken driving, and to report those whom the officers suspected of being illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/nyreg ... f=nyregion

Only two victims testified against Mr. Carranza. The other victims, said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County prosecutor’s office, were too frightened of him to testify.

This should have been a HUGE clue to the courts--was he out on bail for this crime? If so, his bail should have been revoked when he was arrested for the sexual assault of a child. Does he have gang connections?

Mr. Carranza was also arrested in 2007, before the Newark playground killings, on charges that he sexually assaulted a child over a four-year period.

He should still be in jail/prison over this crime--was he released on bail?