Man gets 20-plus years in gang attacks

A 19-year-old Deer Park man prosecutors described as a member of the notorious MS-13 gang received concurrent 21-year prison sentences Tuesday in Riverhead for his role in the stabbing death of a Bay Shore man and the shooting of a 13-year-old boy in 2009.

Alex Aguilar addressed the family of Wilson Batista Jr., whom he shot in the head and seriously wounded in June 2009 while the teen was playing basketball in Timberline Park. He said he didn't intend to shoot the boy and claimed he never aimed at him.

"I'm sorry for all the damage I've done," he said.

Batista's family said they weren't buying the apology.

"I didn't see any remorse," Batista's mother, Ramona, said in Spanish outside the courtroom after the sentencing. "He didn't say this apology with much conviction."

She added that she could not say whether the sentence was just.

"Only God can decide," she said.

One of the brothers of the man killed, Edgar Villalobos, denounced the sentence as too light and said he thought Aguilar should be put away for life.

"I think it's not fair," said Cesar Villalobos, 36. "In 20 years from now he could be out. I think he has no remorse."

Aguilar pleaded guilty in January and prosecutors were seeking concurrent sentences of 25 years. Criminal Court Judge Robert Doyle imposed the sentencing.

Prosecutors said Aguilar and two other men killed Edgar Villalobos, 28, a restaurant worker from Bay Shore, on July 20, 2009, because they believed Villalobos was a member of the rival gang Latin Kings.

In the courtroom Tuesday, Ramona Batista addressed the judge, expressing the pain she felt after her son was shot after he went to do one of his favorite things: play basketball.

Referring to Aguilar, she said in Spanish, "My question for him is: Why did he do this to my son? My son went to play. He wasn't going to do anyone harm."

She added: "My son loves sports. That's all he lived for. But that guy ruined his life . . . This was an innocent boy, only 13 years old. He [Aguilar] not only ruined my son's life, but our lives as parents."

Wilson Batista Jr., now 15, followed her to a lectern in the court after it was announced he would also make a statement, but once there declined to do so and said only that he agreed with what his mother said. In the shooting, Wilson lost his right eye and some cognitive brain function. He also has poor vision in his left eye, and has limited use of his left arm.

Aguilar then spoke briefly, saying, "My intentions were not to shoot your son. I was never aiming at your son. I'm sorry for all the damage I've done. What's happened has happened."

He did not address Villalobos' relatives.

After the June 2009 shooting, Batista was in four hospitals during five months. Doctors feared he would never walk again, but he surpassed their expectations.

The shooting of Batista and the murder of Villalobos focused a spotlight on gang violence in Brentwood, Suffolk officials said.

Villalobos' death also focused attention on how crime scenes are handled in Suffolk after the body lay on a Brentwood street overnight because staffing changes had eliminated so-called standby shifts for homicide detectives, leaving detectives unavailable to process the murder scene.

Suffolk County Legis. Ricardo Montano (D-Central Islip) wrote a letter to Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) asking a committee be formed to question Police Commissioner Richard Dormer regarding the policy change. The letter was signed by seven of Montano's colleagues in the legislature.

With John Valenti