CONSECUTIVE LIFE SENTENCES FOR MANHATTAN MAN FOUND GUILTYOF TWO GANG RELATED MURDERS IN MOTT HAVEN
Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a 25-year-old Manhattan man has been sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment for two gang related murders within a three week period in December 2005.
Dexter Roman, of 618 West 142nd Street, Manhattan, was found guilty last month on two counts of Murder in the 2nd degree in the deaths of Carlos Arauz, 18, and Laurice Arthur, 19, members of the street gang GMC or Get Money Click.
Acting State Supreme Court Justice Michael Sonberg sentenced Roman to consecutive terms of 25 years to life imprisonment for each of the murders rendering Roman ineligible to apply for parole until he has served a minimum term of 50 years in state prison.
Arauz was shot and killed on December 29, 2005 on a walkway at the Melrose Houses outside 321 East 151st Street. Roman walked up to the deceased and shot him at least five times with a 9MM handgun. The victim was taken to Lincoln Hospital where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later. The fatal shooting was the result of a dispute between the two young men which Arauz believed had been resolved a week earlier. Witnesses testified that a truce that had been brokered a week prior to the murder was a ruse to encourage the deceased to lower his guard and enable Roman to get close enough to execute the ambush killing.
After Arauz was murdered, Arthur, his closest friend, began wearing sweatshirts designed as memorials to Arauz. The shirts displayed a photographic image of Arauz and the text RIP Ckali GMC. On January 17, 2007, Arthur was wearing one of the sweatshirts when Roman and an accomplice followed him into a bodega at 694 Courtlandt Avenue and shot him with a .22 caliber handgun six times in the face. Arthur died at Lincoln Hospital several hours later.
Last October, Roman’s accomplice in murdering Arthur, Christopher Bright, 21, pled guilty to one count of manslaughter and was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment. Another defendant, Carlos Lora ,22, pled guilty in August 2007 to one count of hindering prosecution. He was sentenced to up to 6 years imprisonment. Lora admitted to hiding both murder weapons in his home for “safe keeping”. Although Lora and Bright pled guilty to charges related to the killings, neither one testified against Roman, who has ties to a local Bronx street gang BGS or Bronx Gunslingers. Bright is also affiliated with BGS.
Assistant District Attorney Veronica Guariglia of the Gangs / Major Case Bureau prosecuted the case against Roman.
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