JURY FINDS MANHATTAN MAN GUILTY OF MURDER IN SHOOTING DEATH OF 20-YEAR-OLD YOUTH AT THE WHITESTONE MULTIPLEX CINEMAS IN THE SUMMER OF 1989

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a man charged in the fatal shooting of a movie patron at the Whitestone Multiplex Cinemas in July of 1989, has been found guilty of murder. The jury reached the verdict after two full days of deliberations following approximately four weeks of testimony about the killing which the NYPD had carried as a Cold Case until September of last year.

Ricardo Jimenez, 39, was convicted on one count of Murder in the 2nd degree in the death of Sean Worrell, a 20-year-old man from Brooklyn who was at the Whitestone Multiplex Cinemas with friends to see the Summer blockbuster hit Batman. The shooting occurred at 2505 Bruckner Boulevard on July 3, 1989 when Jimenez and Worrell got into an argument while standing on line at the concession stand. The two argued over the last bag of popcorn and who had arrived at the line first. Jimenez went outside to retrieve a gun from his parked car. He went into the darkened and crowded theater searching for Worrell. As the opening credits appeared on the screen, the defendant spotted Worrell and called out “hey you’re the guy with the popcorn.” When Worrell turned around and stood up, Jimenez opened fire.

Jimenez is facing a maximum sentence of up to 25 years to life imprisonment when he appears before State Supreme Court Justice Robert Torres on Monday, August 6, 2007 in Part T-1.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Lisa Mattaway.