NEW YORK (AP) — A 32-year-old Bronx man has been convicted in a 2002 shooting at a christening party that killed a 10-year-old bystander and paralyzed a rival gang member.
Authorities said Monday that Edgar Morales was convicted of manslaughter, attempted murder, gang assault and other charges after a 6-week-long retrial.
Morales was originally convicted in 2007 in New York’s first-ever use of the New York State Anti-Terrorism Statute against an organized gang. Prosecutors said the gang tried to intimidate the neighborhood’s Mexican-American community.
The state’s highest court overturned the conviction in 2012, saying street gangsters that commit assaults and murders are not terrorists under the statute that was enacted following 9/11.
Morales had said he handled the gun but denied firing the five shots. He faces up to 50 years in prison.
