BRONX MAN CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER IN THE SHOOTING DEATHS OF AN IRAQ WAR VETERAN AND HIS BEST FRIEND

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that at the beginning of his trial, a Bronx man has pled guilty to two counts of Manslaughter in the 1st degree in the shooting deaths of a war veteran and his best friend in November 2003.

Marlon Henry, 22, was convicted of “acting in concert” with an accomplice in fatally shooting Robert Melendez, 24, and Kristopher Jimenez, 18, during a robbery attempt at the Boston-Secor Houses in the Edenwald section of the Bronx. State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gross set sentencing for Monday, February 26, 2007 in Part T-11. Henry, of 1958 Adee
Avenue, the Bronx, will receive consecutive terms of 14 ½ years imprisonment on each count for a total of 29 years incarceration. Henry admitted his role in the killings following jury selection and just before opening statements.

Melendez, who had served a tour of duty in Iraq, was shot and killed two weeks before his twenty fifth birthday and three months after being honorably discharged from the Army. He and Jimenez were sitting on a bench in a courtyard at the housing complex when Henry and an accomplice, Apolinar Roque, 22, approached the pair and demanded their valuables. The two friends were shot and killed while attempting to resist the gunpoint robbery.

Roque, of 1165 East 229th Street, the Bronx, pled guilty to two counts of Manslaughter in the 1st degree on November 16, 2006. He is scheduled to be sentenced to a total of 25 years imprisonment when he appears before Justice Gross on Friday, February 23, 2007 in Part T-11.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Assistant District Attorney Theresa Gottlieb and Assistant District Attorney Frances Wang.