BRONX MAN IS CONVICTED FOR THE HIT AND RUN DEATH OF AN ELDERLY WOMAN

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today the conviction of a 23 year-old Bronx man in the October 10, 2000, hit and run death of a 61 year-old grandmother of three.

Miguel Medrano, of 560 Balcom Avenue was found guilty of Criminally Negligent Homicide and Leaving the Scene of an Accident, both class "E" felonies, in the death of Juanita Correa. Medrano was convicted following a non-jury trial before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Richard Lee Price. Medrano, faces a maximum sentence of up to 8 years imprisonment when he appears for sentencing on October 17, 2002 in Part T16.

Eyewitnesses testified that they observed Medrano attempting to beat a yellow light traveling northbound along the Grand Concourse, at an excessive rate of speed in a red 1988 Honda Civic, when he struck and fatally injured Correa. Expert witnesses put the speed well in excess of 60 mph in a posted 30 mph zone. The victim had just begun to cross the street at the intersection of the Grand Concourse and Mt. Eden Parkway. Medrano fled on foot and was apprehended several hours later. The medical examiner ruled Correa’s death to be the result of blunt trauma to the head and body.

Assistant District Attorney Ben Rivera of the Trial Bureau is prosecuting this case.