Execution-style slayings nothing new for Illegals

(August 22, 2007) — Jose J. Santiago lived up to his street nickname of the “Red Devil” when he shot two children execution-style and attempted to kill their mothers and another relative, a judge said today.

Monroe County Court Judge Alex R. Renzi, who resentenced Santiago to life imprisonment without parole for the March 1, 1999, attack on a family in their Remington Street home, said Santiago showed non-human qualities and didn’t deserve to walk the streets again.

Although Renzi said he often agonizes over sentences for convicted murders, he said that didn’t happen in deciding Santiago’s penalty.

“In this case, I lost no sleep,” he said. “The decision in this case is really a no-brainer.”

Santiago was convicted in 2000 of the slayings of Drequan Scrivens, 2, and Zyrone Scrivens, 14, and wounding of Bernetta “Goldie” Wims and her daughters, Shuntavia Scrivens and Chaquita “Nikki” Wims in their Remington Street home.

All five victims were shot in the back of the head after Santiago tied them up and robbed them of money and jewelry. The women were also stabbed.

A jury rejected the death penalty for him, choosing instead a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. County Court Judge William H. Bristol, who left office at the end of 2000, imposed that sentence.

But on June 8, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court set aside Santiago’s sentence, while affirming his convictions for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. The court cited a ruling by New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, that had ruled a provision in the capital murder law to be unconstitutional.

The appeals court said the new judge could impose a sentence ranging from 20 years to life to life imprisonment without parole.

Before the sentencing, Bernetta Wims’ sister, Nyree Wims Strong, gave an impassioned statement to Renzi and asked for the sentence the judge eventually imposed.

“Jose tried to exterminate my family,” she said.

MZEIGLER@DemocratandChronicle.com

(August 23, 2007) — Two illegal immigrants — one of whom allegedly hit the car of an off-duty immigration officer while driving drunk — admitted Wednesday that they were in the United States unlawfully.

Gerardo Morales-Diaz, 18, who is charged with a hit-and-run accident in Batavia on July 20, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer to making false statements to a Border Patrol agent.

Morales-Diaz will serve three months in jail and will be subject to deportation after charges involving the crash are resolved, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick.

Matilde Angel-Munoz, 37, pleaded guilty to being unlawfully in the United States. Larimer sentenced her to time served and ordered her deported. She was arrested July 22 after she boarded a bus for Buffalo at the Greyhound/Trailways depot in Rochester.

Both are citizens of Mexico.

An off-duty Batavia police officer saw a car allegedly run a red light in Batavia at 12:09 a.m. July 20, hit the car of the immigration officer, and flee. The police officer called for help and followed the car until another officer stopped it.

Morales-Diaz, allegedly the driver of the car, and a passenger received minor injuries.

Morales-Diaz presented an identification card, birth certificate and Social Security card, all in another man's name. He admitted that he met that man while working in a food-packing plant in Sidney, Ohio, and bought the cards for $1,000.

Angel-Munoz was on a bus with her three young daughters when she told a Border Patrol agent that she was a citizen of Mexico. A records check disclosed that she had been ordered from the United States in 1998 after entering illegally. Her daughters, U.S. citizens, are living with her husband, Resnick said. The girls are expected to return with their mother to Mexico, he said.