A young man who murdered his crossing-guard girlfriend — slashing her 26 times with a knife in her East Harlem apartment — was sentenced to 23-years-to-life in prison today, with the screams of his victim’s mom ringing in his ears.
“You destroyed my life!” the mom, Maria Justiniano, railed at her daughter’s killer, Jesus Alejandro, 22, of the Bronx, while making a tearful victim impact statement in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“You ripped my heart …You killed my baby,” the mother sobbed, gripping a podium and staring the killer down. “I hate you so much!”
Alejandro had repeatedly stabbed and slashed at the screaming, struggling, 25-year-old woman, turning her East 119th Street bedroom into a bloodbath, then leaving her to die — even cranking the gas to her oven just to be sure. He had jumped off a third story fire-escape in a failed try at eluding police.
Earlier this month, Alejandro tried to convince a jury that he was emotionally disturbed at the time of the attack, and should be convicted of just manslaughter, not murder.
But jurors rejected his wholly unsubstantiated claims that he was in an uncontrollable rage after imagining that Hernandez was secretly taping him so she could embarrass him on YouTube.
“I would like to ask the Hernandez family for forgiveness,” Alejandro said, when given the chance to speak at his sentencing. “This is a big tragedy that affected everyone who knew me and Christine. This is something that, if I had been in my right state of mind, I wouldn’t have done this.”
The ripples from Alejandro’s brutality are still widening nearly three years after the April, 2008 murder. Five rows of the victim’s family members sat in court, some shaking their heads “No,” as Alejandro made his gruff request for forgiveness.
Alejandro’s former defense lawyer, Mitchel Golub, remains charged with witness tampering for allegedly telling a witness to dodge a prosecution subpoena; Alejandro remains charged with assaulting a female guard at Rikers — for grabbing her by the hair and repeatedly punching her, said prosecutor Jennifer Sigall.
Victim Christina Hernandez’s only child, Jayel, was just five years old when she died. The child, now seven, still looks at his mother’s picture and asks, “Will she ever come back?”
“We tell him she’s an angel now,” the grandmother told the judge, sadly.
Hernandez’s family broke into loud applause as Alejandro was sentenced by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro. He’ll serve 23 years before seeing a parole board, which has the option of keeping him imprisoned for life.
District Attorney Cyrus Vance, noting that Alejandro had a history of abusing his victim, advised anyone needing assistance or resources to call the DA’s domestic violence hotline at 212-335-4308.