| Stabbing Death of Eddy Guzman in 2016
Yields 13 Year Sentence For Dilone From the
Bronx to Atlanta
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope,
Photos
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Oct 25 -- Merlin
Dilone got an above-guidelines
sentence of 156 months in
prison on October 25, in a
courtroom half filled with his
supporters and half those of
his victim, Eddy Guzman.
Dilone was described as a
member of a Bronx drug
trafficking organization. In
between the groups were Court
Security Officers; in the back
of the courtroom was Inner
City Press.
U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Vernon S. Broderick
asked about the specifics of
Guzman's death, and the role
of Dilone's cousin Cesar. The
government's sentencing
submission is replete with
security photographs before
and after the stabbing, with
Cesar in a red hat and Dilone
in a black sweater. Then red
is everywhere.
Judge Broderick is not known
for above-guidelines
sentences. But in this case,
with the guidelines at 108 to
135 months and Probation
recommending 168, he imposed a
sentence of 156 months or 13
years. It will be served in
Atlanta, where part of
Dilone's family lives. His
mother, it was said, moved
from The Bronx to Florida
feeling the threat of
retaliation. The case is US
v. Dilone, 17-cr-707
(Broderick).
From a charged
conspiracy a block away: On
July 10 Willie Reeves who was
portrayed watching the murder
as part of the 240 E. 175 St
drug conspiracy came up for
sentencing.
Defense
attorney Aaron M. Goldsmith
spoke with family and friends
of Reeves out in hall while U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District Judge
William H.
Pauley III
finished up
with a
defendant
describes as
clearing up
matters in The
Bronx whom
Judge Pauley
advised to
look for a job
in an economy
he described
as thriving.
As Inner City
Press jotted
this line down
Reeves family
members filed
in. Taking
detailed notes
no longer
seemed
appropriate.
They listened
as Assistant
U.S. Attorney
Frank
Balsamello
described
Reeves as
merely
watching the
murder of
Harris who had
come to visit
him. A family
member next to
Inner City
Press shook
her head
vehemently.
When it was
Reeves' turn
to speak he
was
understandably
shook up,
facing up to
108 months in
prison. He
first called
Judge Pauley
Mister
Goldsmith,
then Mister
Pauley Three.
Ultimately
Goldsmith who
had emphasized
his work as a
barber in the
MCC and MDS
read the
statement,
while alluding
to but not
requesting a
Fatico hearing
on whether it
was proper to
punish a
defendant like
Reeves who had
pled guilty
but declined
to cooperate.
Judge Pauley
got the
family's
attention by
acknowledging
that Reeves'
brother had
been killed.
He went on to
say that
Reeves' list
of
accomplishments
was thin. He
called the
government's
exhibit of
synchronized
video of the
shootings,
apparently
never uploaded
or distributed
to the media
by the U.S.
Attorney's
office despite
a Press
request, the
most riveting
he has seen in
21 years on
the bench, and
the most
troubling,
that no one
helped.
Judge
Pauley imposed
a sentence on
Reeves at the
lower end of
the
guidelines: 87
months with
five years of
supervised
release.
Reeves
said he wants
to be a
community
organizer.
Inner City
Press will
continue
covering this
Felton,
Reeves, et al
case, and the
related cases
before SDNY
Judge Loretta
Preska, in
which it appears
that a sealed
sentencing was
held on July
9, at least
with the duo
of Assistant
U.S.
Attorneys.
Watch this
site.
Back on June 19
in the culmination of the one
week jury trial of James
Felton, accused among other
things of killing Marvin
Harris on the corner of 175th
Street and Monroe Avenue in
The Bronx on June 11, 2016,
the jury delivered guilty
verdicts on all twelve counts.
Inner City Press asked
Felton's defense lawyer if he
will work on the sentencing
submission. He replied that
there is a mandatory minimum
life sentence. Still, Judge
Pauley III has
set the
sentencing for
October 4.
After the
verdict was
read out,
guilty after
guilty, James
Felton looked
back at a half
dozen people
in the gallery
throughout the
trial, and
pointed at his
heart. Judge
Pauley said to
him, It must
be a difficult
day for you.
Then Judge
Pauley went to
speak with the
jurors.
Earlier
on June 19,
the jury
passed out
notes
requesting a
chart of drug
sales, some of
the video of
the Harris
murder,
Ezekiel
Burley's
testimony on
the Harris
murder, and
Facebook
postings of
defendant
James Felton.
Defense
counsel had
objected to
the indictment
being sent in
to the jury,
and wanted to
make a Rule 29
motion. James
Felton,
smaller than
both of his
lawyers,
glanced around
at the
Bronxites in
the gallery.
It was down to
the small
strokes.
Back
on June 18 in
the
government's
summation,
Assistant US
Attorney Frank
J. Balsemello
said that
James Felton
"is a cold
blooded
murderer." He
described how
James Felton
provided
muscle, or gun
play, to allow
his younger
relatives to
sell crack in
240 East 175th
Street, adding
that it was
lucrative
because it was
so near the
rehab center
PROMESA -- who
as Inner City
Press long ago
reported had
its bookkeeper
shot and
killed on East
Tremont
Avenue.
Balsemello's
multi-media
presentation
used audio
from prison
phone calls
("you have one
minute
remaining")
and pole
camera footage
of the whole
gang dealing
drugs to those
PROMESA
customers. The
jury perked up
at the
complaints of
a resident of
240, about
having to go
to work
walking past
all these guys
- and a lone
female, Ginger
a/k/a George -
dealing crack.
See
@InnerCityPress
and the new @SDNYLIVE.
***
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