Deliberations to start in Old Bethpage park slaying case

Jurors will decide if Brandon Torres was the triggerman whose bullet killed an accomplice in a botched Old Bethpage park robbery or just “the easiest one to blame” as an outsider among close friends who teamed up for the 2019 alleged drug rip-off.

Deliberations are scheduled to start Friday in Nassau County Court in Torres’ trial on murder, robbery and weapon charges following closing arguments Thursday.

Prosecutors have alleged Torres, 25, of Staten Island, meant to shoot marijuana dealer Dimitri Filacouris in Haypath Park at about 11 p.m. on July 6, 2019, after he and co-conspirator Kion Carter robbed Filacouris in what was supposed to be a $2,400 deal for a pound of the drug.

But Torres instead fatally shot alleged robbery lookout Stefon Pierre, 23, of Queens, after Pierre emerged from a hiding spot as Torres and Carter, 28, were fleeing, and Torres turned and opened fire, according to prosecutors.

The defense has portrayed Torres as a convenient scapegoat during the trial while attacking the prosecution’s two key witnesses, Filacouris, and Patricia Quilliam — the confessed robbery lookout and getaway driver  — as both unreliable and motivated to testify against Torres to benefit themselves.

“He’s the easiest one to blame and that still holds,” Torres’ attorney, Jeffrey Groder, told jurors of his client during his closing argument.

Groder also said that Filacouris’ grand jury testimony suggested the admitted marijuana dealer and recovering drug addict didn’t see Torres fire the gun.

Filacouris still faces a felony drug charge in connection with that night in the park. Groder on Thursday also brought up an agreement Filacouris signed with prosecutors consenting to a debriefing in the homicide case in the hope they would make him a plea offer on the drug case.

Groder reminded jurors Filacouris, 24, acknowledged during cross-examination that before he identified Torres as the shooter in his grand jury testimony, he dodged questions related to whether the gun was pointed at him and what he had seen at time of the shooting.

The defense attorney said Filacouris told the grand jury “it happened so fast I really wasn’t sure” and he was “frozen up” at the time.

 “How many times, in the grand jury, do we fish around the most important detail of this case? It is the case. Forget about everything else,” Groder said.

Groder further argued he wasn’t saying Filacouris’ grand jury statements about the speed of what happened or his reaction weren’t valid.

“But then don’t come in here and say ‘He did it,’ ” he added. 

Groder also said Filacouris’ admissions during the trial that he was under the influence of Percocet during the shooting, going through drug withdrawal when he picked Torres out of a police photo array, and had used a drug — likely oxycodone — before his grand jury testimony was further evidence of his unreliability.

Groder reminded jurors Quilliam, 22, testified she was off the medication she takes for bipolar disorder on the night in question. He also pointed out she was getting a cooperation deal that would spare her prison time if she testified against Torres in a way that pleased prosecutors.

But prosecutor Michelle Lewisohn said in her closing argument that surveillance video, phone records and other evidence police collected corroborated the testimony of Filacouris and Quilliam.

Lewisohn also said that Quilliam's testimony that she didn't see a gun, but heard Torres say before the shooting he was "packing heat" and after the shooting that he had wiped off and dumped the gun, showed she was truthful and not a prosecution "puppet."

The prosecutor also pointed to Filacouris' testimony that he heard Carter shout "Shoot him! Shoot him!" after the robbery, a statement she said showed Torres, and not Carter, was the gunman.

"Nothing was going to stand between him and that marijuana," she said of Torres, adding that he wanted to resell the drugs to get money for an apartment in Pennsylvania.

Lewisohn also pointed to internet searches police found on a phone recovered from Torres' kitchen garbage as further evidence of his guilt. 

Authorities discovered about 20 searches for the kind of gun used in the encounter leading up to that day, according to Lewisohn. After the killing, and leading up to Torres' July 8 arrest in Staten Island, they found 63 searches on the phone for "Long Island shooting," the prosecutor said.

She also recalled police testimony that Torres said "I was going to turn myself in today" after they found him hiding under a bed in his home.