The mother of a murdered New York boy was reportedly barred from court Tuesday after having a second emotional outburst, this time while an accused gang member took the stand.
According to the New York Daily News, Leandra Feliz yelled out as Michael “Sosa” Reyes, a key witness who allegedly partook in Lesandro Guzman-Feliz’s June 2018 murder, testified about one of the gang members charged in the attack.
“You killed my boy!” Feliz reportedly hollered several times in Spanish. “It wasn’t any neighbor’s son.”
Surveillance cameras reportedly filmed a group of men chasing Guzman-Feliz into a Bronx bodega before dragging him onto the sidewalk and beating and mortally wounding him. The teen reportedly fled the scene but bled to death before reaching a hospital.
The 14 suspects are all reportedly members of the Sures set of the Trinitarios gang. They are believed to have targeted Guzman-Feliz because they believed he was affiliated with a rival gang responsible for shooting one of their members two days earlier. However, police have said the teen’s murder was a case of mistaken identity.
After being ousted from court Tuesday, Feliz told WPIX that she yelled out when Reyes claimed that one of the men allegedly in his car when Guzman-Feliz was tracked down, Danilo Payamps Pacheco, wasn’t a member of the Trinitarios gang at the time of last year’s slaying.
According to News12, prosecutors have offered to drop Reyes’ manslaughter charge if he provides honest testimony in regards to this case. Feliz noted that another suspect charged in connection with her son’s slaying, Kevin Alvarez, has already been offered time served for his testimony.
Pacheco was charged with second-degree murder and will stand trial later this year. Feliz said she fears Reyes is working to get Pacheco a lighter sentence by fraudulently claiming he had no gang affiliations.
“He’s trying to clean him, too,” she said of Reyes and Pacheco.
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary ruled that Feliz couldn’t return to court for the remainder of Tuesday’s proceedings. The Daily News reported a lawyer for one of the five defendants, Amy Attias, has requested that she’s barred altogether in light of the latest courtroom disturbance.
The New York Post reported that Attias also requested a mistrial calling Feliz’s behavior “completely inappropriate” and characterizing the outbursts as “large and disturbing.”
“She walked out in front of the jury, completely inappropriate. She showed this court she can no longer [be here],” Attias reportedly told the judge while jurors took a lunch break.
Feliz was said to have halted court proceedings late last month after having an emotional breakdown while viewing Guzman-Feliz’s final moments. Officers removed her from the courtroom after she cried out while footage played of the teen holding his fatal neck wound, according to WPIX.
If banned from the courtroom, Feliz could be allowed to watch a live feed of the trial in a separate room.
The judge said Tuesday, “I wouldn’t do it lightly, obviously, but I will think about it. She’s not crossed the threshold, but she’s close to being banned.”
[Featured image: Leandra Feliz, Lesandro Guzman-Feliz/Facebook]
