BRONX MAN FOUND GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER IN THE SHOOTING DEATHS OF HIS WIFE AND HER SISTER

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that 34-year-old Edelmiro Cesareo has been convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting his common law wife and her sister in the couple’s apartment nearly two years ago.

Cesareo, 34, was found guilty on two counts of Manslaughter in the 1st degree, one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2nd degree and two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. The jury deliberated for four days before convicting Cesareo of manslaughter after considering arguments by his attorney that Cesareo had acted with “extreme emotional disturbance.” The grand jury had indicted Cesareo on charges of Murder in the 1st and 2nd degrees.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice John Carter set sentencing for Wednesday, July 18, 2007 in Part T26. Cesareo is facing a maximum term of up to 65 years imprisonment if the judge imposes consecutive sentences of 25 years each for the deaths of Loreen Merchan, 32, and Yasmin Merchan, 27, and 15 years for possessing the gun with the intention of using it unlawfully.

Cesareo shot and killed his wife and sister-in-law during an argument over the sister-in-law’s extended stays with the couple in their Throggs Neck Boulevard apartment. The People argued that Cesareo was angry because Yasmin Merchan was on the telephone making good on her threat to notify police that he was a wife beater. Merchan had witnessed some of the beatings because she would travel to the Bronx from her residence in Waterbury, Connecticut and stay with Loreen Merchan for weeks at a time. Cesareo’s argument with Yasmin Merchan escalated and spun out of control. When Cesareo held a gun to the woman’s head, she challenged his manhood by telling him that he did not have the guts to pull the trigger. Cesareo became enraged and called out to his wife who was outside on the balcony. When Loreen Merchan walked into the room Cesareo shot her in the head and then fired on Yasmin Merchan when she attempted to aid her sister. The fatal shootings were witnessed by the couple’s teenage daughters. Cesareo was arrested several days later in Puerto Rico where he had fled after the shootings.

Senior Trial Assistant District Attorney Bruce Birns is prosecuting the case.