Posted on 12/13/2006 5:06:07 AM PST by Puppage
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. -- A man with 20 years of experience hunting deer was convicted Tuesday of murder for firing an aluminum arrow into the heart of a stranger after a random argument on a Long Island street.
The jury needed only a few hours over two days of deliberations to convict veteran hunter Thomas Sirico, 35, of second-degree murder in the Jan. 8, 2006, death of Juan Carlos "Angel" Munoz. The 27-year-old father of three died following the brief but brutal encounter in a suburban neighborhood of Mastic.
Sirico faces 25 years to life in prison for the bow-and-arrow slaying at his Jan. 9, 2007, sentencing. He showed no emotion as the verdict was read
"He certainly knew what he was doing. This is not someone who failed to perceive the risk; his goal was to kill this man," Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Denise Merrifield told jurors during summations on Monday.
Jurors could have convicted him of the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, which carries a penalty of four years in prison.
The prosecutor said Sirico was initially arguing with a roommate about overdue rent money when he noticed Munoz and others across the street. A comment was made, and Sirico asked the group of strangers, "Who said that?"
When Munoz answered "I did," the agitated Sirico aimed his arrow and fired at the man across the street, Merrifield said.
"The motive in this case is anger," the prosecutor said.
Munoz, who was wearing a red sweater with a patch on the chest, was hit in the heart, Merrifield said.
The patch, made of white and yellow satin, actually helped Sirico -- an experienced deer hunter -- more accurately shoot at the victim, the prosecutor said. "He just about wore a neon sign that night," Merrifield said of Munoz.
Defense attorney Stephen Scaring did not dispute that the fatal shot came from Sirico, but insisted the shooting was an accident. He said his client stumbled slightly on a prosthetic leg, resulting in the fatal shot.
Munoz, who was visiting friends across from Sirico's home, pulled out the aluminum arrow, which was sticking through his back, before stumbling around and collapsing into the street, witnesses said. He died at a hospital; an autopsy showed the arrow struck near his heart, cutting off blood flow.
Sirico ran away but was captured later by state police in Westhampton Beach, about 15 miles away, prosecutors said.
"Yeah, he ran away, he was stupid," Scaring said. "He was acting like a fool and he panicked."
My mom always told me...people wear'n bulls eyes shouldn't make comments.
I'm not justifying the murder, but...
Some people can't keep their noses out of other's business. It wasn't even his friggin' argument and he has to stick his nose in where it doesn't belong. And, duh, was the bow a concealed weapon? So he stuck his nose where it didn't belong, with the other person obviously armed, and got killed. What a surprise.
And just in case I wasn't clear, the shooter needs to do time. Lots.
Everything looks like a nail when you have a hammer in your hand.
"Shot through the heart - and you're to blame - you give love a bad name (bad name)"
Actually, it WAS an accident.
What is not reported, is that the victim was wearing a hat with a large red apple on top of it. The shooter was trying to do a trick shot and stumbled because of his artificial leg, which replaced the real leg he lost while reading a book on an escalator.
ROFLMAO. Yeah, I can see how this might have happened. Sirico, who was involved in an argument with his roommate, stumbled slightly on a prosthetic leg into his apartment, where, flailing to keep his balance, he grabbed onto his compound bow, and just coincidentally, the broadhead-equipped hunting arrows rather than the less lethal points he used for target practice.
Still stumbling, he spun out the door of the apartment back onto the street, where, in an attempt to regain his equilibrium, he nocked the arrow and pulled the bowstring back to full draw.
Dizzy from his ordeal, and confused by a comment from across the street, he realized that the only way to regain his balance at that point was to release the bowstring.
His practiced archer's instincts, however, told him that it was dangerous to simply shoot an arrow at random, so when he saw what appeared to be a bullseye target, he aimed and dispatched the arrow into flight.
The "dumb" arrow (as opposed to a "smart" arrow, which will avoid innocent bystanders, which are admittedly only something I just thought up but which should have been thought up by somebody so this couldn't happen) flew straight towards the helpless bullseye, scoring a perfect shot in the ten ring.
Damn prosthetics. What a tragedy! Who is the negligent manufacturer who created the faulty prosthetic leg that caused all this to happen? And what about the arrow maker? Didn't they know (or shouldn't they have known) that pointy things like arrows are dangerous? I think I see a few product lawsuits here!
Inquiring minds want to know.
LOL!!
Let's get together and ban the Box & arrow! / psychotic lieberal response.
Let's get together and ban the Bow & arrow! / psychotic lieberal response.
bow & arrow
"Some people can't keep their noses out of other's business. It wasn't even his friggin' argument and he has to stick his nose in where it doesn't belong. And, duh, was the bow a concealed weapon? So he stuck his nose where it didn't belong, with the other person obviously armed, and got killed. What a surprise."
I have probably saved a few lives by doing that.
There have been times where I was close enough to take the gun or knife, but usually simply by verbally breaking up the path of the coming event, it unlocks the potential killers tunnel vision and gives everyone a second chance to change the dynamics of the argument.
Maybe he was just cleaning it, and it accidently went off.
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