A Dominican Teenager Admits Killing A Homeless Man

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A Dominican teenager who fatally beat a homeless man in New York pleaded guilty Thursday as part of a love affair that will put him in jail for just nine months.

Branlee González, 19, had to admit to committing murder and attempted assault, but he will have a sealed record as a juvenile delinquent for the beating he gave to Lucio Bravo, 69, on May 18, 2017.

During the hearing before the judge in the Manhattan Supreme Court, Gonzalez smirked and turned to his smiling family, gesturing with his thumbs up before being taken into custody.

Judge Guy Mitchell was criticized for initially telling Gonzalez that he would likely get a jail-free deal, but changed his mind.

That sentence will amount to Gonzalez serving his prison sentence for about nine months for relentlessly beating Bravo and Juan Calderón, 39, who suffered minor injuries, in the altercation that took place on Sherman Avenue near Dyckman Street. in upper Manhattan.

Prosecutor Sarah Márquez had questioned the judge for no less than 10 years, arguing that González was an alleged member of the Gorila Stones gang.

The victim's grieving daughter also urged the judge to impose significant jail in a July 19 letter. "Please, I ask that the defendant pay for what he has done," according to The New York Post. "It is so painful to see that my daughters no longer have a grandfather," he wrote.

González, then 18, was enraged after Bravo allegedly called his cousin. After the attack, Bravo fell into a coma and died five days later in the hospital.