LIFE IMPRISONMENT WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE FOR
KILLER OF OFF DUTY NEW YORK CITY POLICE OFFICER
Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that the 51-year-old killer of an off duty New York City Police Officer will spend the rest of his natural life in prison.
Steven Armento, of Yonkers, New York, was found guilty last month of Murder in the 1st degree in the shooting death of Police Officer Daniel Enchautegui nearly three years ago on December 10, 2005. Armento was sentenced by State Supreme Court Justice Martin Marcus to a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the maximum sentence allowed by law.
District Attorney Johnson said: “While this sentence is most appropriate and will protect society from further danger by this unremorseful killer, nothing we do can ever compensate for the terrible void felt by Officer Enchautegui’s grieving family and friends. As I said several weeks ago, after the verdict was announced, we owe them our gratitude for this officer’s years of service to all who live and work in the Bronx.”
Officer Enchautegui, who was assigned to the 40th Precinct, was off duty at his home prior to the pre-dawn fatal shooting. Enchautegui was shot to death after leaving his home to investigate a burglary at a neighbor’s house on Arnow Place in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx. The jury, after less than six hours of deliberations, found that Armento had “acted with intent to cause the death” of Enchautegui by shooting and killing him during the course of or in furtherance of committing or attempting to commit the crime of burglary.
A second defendant, Lillo Brancato, 32, also of Yonkers, is still awaiting trial on charges of Murder in the 2nd degree and other offenses. Jury selection in that case is scheduled to start on Monday, November 17, 2008 in State Supreme Court, Part T-13.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Assistant District Attorney Theresa Gottlieb and Assistant District Attorney April Cohen of the Trial Division.
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