Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Thursday, June 29, that defendant Pedro Hernandez was sentenced to six years in prison after a jury found him guilty of first-degree burglary and third-degree criminal mischief for breaking open a Bronx building door while he and his friends chased two men they had been fighting with in 2019.

 

Clark said in the context of the sentencing, “The defendant, Pedro Hernandez, has been sentenced to six years in prison for breaking into a building after he and his friends chased two men after a fight. He then tried to break into an apartment in which the victims had sought refuge.” She added, “The 911 calls from people in the building that were presented in the trial showed the fear and desperation of the victims and building occupants. The terrorizing of innocent Bronx people will not be tolerated.”

 

Clark said Hernandez, 23, of East 168th Street, Bronx, was sentenced on Thursday by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Beth Beller to six years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision for his first-degree burglary conviction, and one to three years for third-degree criminal mischief, to run concurrently. He was found guilty of the charges by a jury on April 21, 2023, after an eight-week trial.

 

According to the investigation, on April 7, 2019, at 7:30 a.m., Hernandez and his friends got into a melee with two youths in front of 2177 Quimby Avenue in the Unionport section of The Bronx. They chased the victims into a building and Hernandez is seen on video kicking in the front door of the building while his friends also kick it and hit it with the bat. After breaking the door in, Hernandez and his friends ran upstairs and attempted unsuccessfully to break down the door to an apartment where the victims were seeking safety.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney J. Joseph Gattuso of trial bureau 60, and Jessica Lupo, deputy bureau chief in the trial division, under the supervision of Susanna Imbo, chief of trial bureau 60, and under the overall supervision of James Brennan, deputy chief of the trial division, and Theresa Gottlieb, chief of the trial division.

Clark thanked the trial bureau 60 professional staff, specifically Supervisor Bryan McRinna and trial preparation assistants, Feven Dereje and Orelbi Rodriguez; and Bronx DA Senior Detective Investigators John Reilly, John Might, Debra Koch and Supervising Detective Investigator Brian O’Loughlin; Assistant District Attorney Jordan Jackson, supervisor in the crime strategies bureau, Vladimir Kocheulov, former chief of the crime strategies bureau, and intelligence analyst, Daniel Walker, of the crime strategies bureau, Gianluca Infantino of the Bronx DA video unit, and Peter Kennedy, chief of the technical investigations bureau, for their assistance with the case.

 

She also thanked NYPD Police Officer Naeem Shahid and Sergeant Luis Cardenas of the 43rd Precinct, and NYC Department of Correction Investigator Walter Holmes for their work on the investigation.