Man gets 21 years for shooting, murder

The accused gang member whose attacks in 2009 provoked heated debate about public safety in Brentwood was sentenced to 21 years to life Tuesday for his role in a stabbing death and a concurrent 21-year sentence for the shooting of a 13-year-old.

After the mother of teenage victim Wilson Batista Jr. spoke in court, Alexander Aguilar, 19, of Deer Park, turned to her and said, "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."

But Ramona Batista and other relatives said they weren't buying the apology.

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

She said she couldn't say whether the sentence was just. "Only God can decide," she said.

A brother 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."

Prosecutors described Aguilar as a member of the MS-13 street gang. They said he shot Wilson in the head and seriously wounded him while the teen was playing basketball in Timberline Park in June 2009. Wilson lost his right eye and some cognitive brain function. He has poor vision in his left eye, and limited use of his left arm.

On Tuesday, Wilson walked up to the lectern in the courtroom with a translator to give his victim impact statement. But after about a minute, the translator announced that the youth had changed his mind and offered only that he agreed with his mother's comments before sitting down.

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 Latin Kings.

Aguilar pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree assault in January and prosecutors were seeking sentences of 25 years for each offense from State Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle.

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

Villalobos's death also drew attention after the body lay uncovered 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.

County officials defended their response but, after negotiations with the union, the standby pay was reinstated.

In the courtroom Tuesday, Ramona Batista addressed Doyle, and, referring to Aguilar said, "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 . . . He (Aguilar) not only ruined my son's life, but our lives as parents."