FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 1, 2015
Brooklyn Landlord Sentenced to 15 Years to Life in Prison For Shooting Death of One Tenant and Assault of Others
Terrorized Second Tenant and Her Children With Pipe
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a 63-year-old East New York landlord was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for gunning down his 51-year-old tenant following a dispute over unpaid rent and then confronting and assaulting a second tenant and her children.
District Attorney Thompson said, “This defendant deserves every day he will spend behind bars for his vicious attack on his tenants, killing one over unpaid rent and then terrorizing and assaulting a woman and her two young children.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Phillip Estevez, 63, of 566 Shepherd Avenue, in East New York, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today to 15 years to life in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei following his conviction earlier this month on one count of second-degree murder, three counts of second-degree assault and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child following a jury trial.
The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on March 10, 2013, at 566 Shepherd Avenue, the defendant, who rented out rooms in his one family house, confronted Luis Martinez, 51, who rented a room in the basement, over unpaid rent. During the confrontation Estevez pulled out a gun and shot Martinez twice in the head and once in the chest, killing him.
The defendant then went up to the second floor of the house, where he rented rooms to tenant Ana Rodriguez and her husband and their two children. Ana Rodriguez was home alone with her two children, an 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. They tried to hide from the defendant, but he confronted them, striking the mother and the girl in the head with a pipe, and causing the boy to jump out of a window to seek help. Both the boy, who broke his foot after jumping, and the girl, escaped and ran to the nearby 75th precinct stationhouse to alert police.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Robert Walsh, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Deputy District Attorney Kenneth Taub, Bureau Chief.