Pedro Santos convicted in machete murder of teen, DA says

A Nassau County jury on Wednesday convicted — for a second time — an alleged gang member in the murder of a Westbury teenager in November 2010 when the defendant and an accomplice chased and attacked him in a flurry of cuts with a knife and a machete, prosecutors said.

Pedro Santos, 23, of Hempstead is scheduled to be sentenced on April 6 after his conviction on second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the death of Yunior Orlando Maldonado, 18. Prosecutors said Santos and a fellow gang member attacked Maldonado at about 11:20 p.m. on Nov. 14, 2010, as he walked on Thorne Avenue in Hempstead.

“This defendant and an accomplice barbarically murdered an innocent young man with a machete and knife,” said Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas in a statement. “The violence that Pedro Santos inflicted clearly indicates that he does not value life and has no place on our streets.”

Santos’ co-defendant, 16-year-old Yan Cifuentes of Hempstead, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November 2011 and was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

Santos faces up to 25 years to life in prison when sentenced by Acting state Supreme Court Justice William O’Brien in Mineola.

Santos’ attorney could not be reached for comment.

The conviction is the second for Santos on the charges. His February 2012 conviction was overturned by a state appellate court that ruled police and prosecutors mistakenly admitted into trial a videotaped statement made while Santos was in police custody.

The panel’s December 2013 decision kicked the case back into trial court and dismissed the videotaped statement because the justices found that Santos may not have understood Miranda warnings that were given to him in English despite his background as a native Spanish speaker with limited proficiency in English.

“Contrary to the People’s contention, they failed to establish that the defendant comprehended “the immediate import” of the Miranda warnings,” the justices wrote.

The trial lasted two weeks and jurors deliberated for two days.