Huntington Station man guilty of murder

A Huntington Station man was convicted Thursday of shooting a father to death as he stood next to his son when he failed to get on the ground as ordered during an attempted robbery outside their home.

Ralph Guerrier, 26, was stoic as he listened to the jury foreman pronounce him guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree attempted robbery for the killing of Geremias Caceres, 39.

Just as stoic in the audience was Caceres' son, Dennis, who testified about seeing his father killed in the street near their Huntington Station home. Outside court, Caceres, now 19, said, "I feel sorry for him. He's going to spend the rest of his life in prison."

Although he said Guerrier "got what he deserved," he said the conviction is "not going to solve anything. That's not going to bring my dad back."

The jury deliberated for parts of two days. Guerrier faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.

"I think at the end it was pretty straightforward," said one of the jurors, Joshua Redman. He and others said the evidence left little doubt about what the verdict had to be.

That evidence included Dennis' gripping account of the crime, an excruciating 911 tape of the victim groaning in agony as he died, the guns used in the murder and DNA evidence linking Guerrier to a hooded sweatshirt he discarded while fleeing the scene.

Perhaps most compelling, though, was the testimony of Guerrier's two accomplices -- Gni Brown, 20, and Lavell Leftenant, 16. Brown pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and Leftenant has a deal to plead guilty to attempted robbery.

They said it was Guerrier's idea to wander the streets of Huntington Station on the night of Jan. 24, 2010, looking for someone to rob. He distributed handguns, they said, giving a .45-caliber pistol to Brown and an unloaded revolver to Leftenant. He kept a .40-caliber pistol for himself.

Eventually, they happened upon the Cacereses, walking home after dropping off the family car so Geremias' brother could get home safely from work at a nearby fast-food restaurant.

Guerrier ordered them to the ground. Dennis complied, but Geremias said he had no money and offered them his cellphone. Guerrier fired, they said, and one bullet tore through Geremias' lung, stomach and liver.

"Two of them took responsibility for their actions," said Assistant District Attorney Glenn Kurtzrock. "The jury held the defendant accountable. The evidence was overwhelming."

Defense attorney Mary Elizabeth Abbate declined to comment after the verdict.

State Supreme Court Justice Mark Cohen set sentencing for Nov. 15. He was on parole for a previous street robbery when he killed Caceres.

After the verdict, several jurors expressed condolences to Caceres' son.