BRONX MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO SECOND DEGREE MURDER

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a 23 year-old Bronx man has been convicted of murder in the shooting death of a 15 year-old boy in October 2000.

Alexander Maldonado, of 304 East 178th Street, pled guilty to Murder in the 2nd degree in the death of Nelson Peralta. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Maldonado will be sentenced to a term of 20 years to life imprisonment when he appears before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Troy K. Webber on Tuesday, June 4, 2002, in Part M40.

The murder took place on the afternoon of October 14, 2000. Eyewitnesses testified that Peralta and a couple of friends were seated on the front stoop of an apartment building at 2000 Grand Concourse, when the defendant approached the group and accused the boys of throwing eggs at him earlier in the day. When the victim and his friends denied throwing eggs at Maldonado, the defendant pulled a gun and fired two shots at Peralta, hitting him in the stomach and leg.

Witnesses said that Maldonado walked around the corner to Anthony Avenue with the gun in his hand where a few minutes later, he was identified and apprehended. However, at the time of his arrest, Maldonado did not have the 9mm semi-automatic handgun in his possession. The gun was later recovered in Manhattan after ballistic tests revealed it to be the weapon used in the murder.

Assistant District Attorney’s Thomas Kapp and Haydee Correa of the Narcotics Division prosecuted this case.