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Jeff Conroy: “I Stabbed” Marcelo Lucero

Posted December 9, 2009 by Patrick Young, Esq.

Today a pre-trail hearing was held in Riverhead at which two police officers involved in the early minutes of the Marcelo Lucero murder case testified. One of them said that Jeff Conroy confessed to the stabbing within minutes of its occurring.

Conroy entered the courtroom in handcuffs nervously bobbing his head and glancing around the room. He has been jailed since he was arrested. The hearing focused on a desperate attempt by the defense to keep out potentially damning statements by Conroy to police.
Suffolk Police Officers Mahony and Richardson testified today. Both were on duty the night of November 8, 2008. Shortly before midnight, Mahony was alone on patrol in his squad car in Patchogue. Richardson was a few miles away at the Bellport train station. They both heard the police dispatcher announce over their radios that there had been a possible stabbing near the Patchogue train station.
Mahony was nearby and reached the scene in a minute or two, making it there before the new day began.
As he pulled up he saw two men standing near the dying Marcelo Lucero. Another officer, Frank Munch, also out alone, pulled into the station area a few seconds later. Mahony went to the still-living Lucero. ‘He had a large pool of blood around his head and a stab wound in the chest”, Mahony testified.
Angel Loja, who had been with Marcelo Lucero when the attack began, blurted out that seven teenagers had fought his friend. He told Mahony that six were white and one was black, He said some were wearing black “hoodies”.
Munch called the description in, and a few minutes later Mahony heard that other officers had stopped people matching that description. Mahony asked Loja if he thought he could recognize the attackers, and Loja said he thought he could. They got into Mahony’s car and headed towards the corner of South Ocean and Main St. where the men were being held.

Meanwhile, Richardson had also heard the radio report of a possible capture and headed towards the same location. He arrived shortly after midnight to see seven young men lined up with their hands against the wall. Richardson went up to the six foot one inch Conroy. He says Conroy was “fidgety, he was looking around like he was nervous.” Officer Richardson patted Conroy down “for my own protection”.
The car with Officer Mahony and Loja pulled up to the corner where the young men were being detained. They all looked at the car as it came to a stop. Loja and Mahony could only see six of the men. Loja said to Mahony “Yeah, those are the guys who were fighting with my friend, but there was a black guy too.” When a police officer stepped to the side, they realized he had been blocking their view of a man who would later be identified as Jose Pacheco, who has pleaded guilty to participating in the attack.
The sergeant at the scene ordered his men to take the seven into custody and bring them to the Fifth Precinct.
Richardson began a second pat down preparatory to taking Conroy into his car. He asked Conroy if he had anything on him that he should know about and began patting him. Conroy inclined his head indicating that he wanted to talk to Richardson away from the others. Richardson took him a few feet away and Conroy said “I have a blade on me.”

Richardson started patting him again and Conroy told him; “Lift my shirt.” He had a folding knife about four inches long hidden in his waistband.
Richardson opened the knife and saw blood on it.
Richardson looked at Conroy and said “There’s blood on it.”

“I stabbed him”, Conroy replied.
According to Newsday, which has obtained handwritten statements taken by the police from those arrested in this case, Conroy’s statement elaborates on his involvement. Here are some quotes from Conroy’s statement published in Newsday:

“His back was to me and as I ran towards him he turned to face me. He was about four or five feet from me, I continued to run towards him and stabbed him once in either his shoulder or chest.”

“I told the cop that my knife was tucked in my boxers and I was the one who stabbed the guy.”
“I don’t blame the Spanish guy for swinging the belt at us. It was obvious that he wanted to get the [expletive] out of there. He was ready to defend himself . . . “

“I tried to wash the blood off in a puddle, but there was still blood on it,”
One of the other young men accused in the attack, Kevin Shea, wrote; “Jeff said . . . ‘I stabbed that guy.’ At first I didn’t believe him, but when he showed me his knife with blood on it I knew it was no joke.”
Today’s hearing also had an interesting side note. I had reported before that an ex-girlfriend said she broke up with Conroy when she discovered a Nazi tattoo on his thigh. Apparently, there are three white supremacist tattoos on Conroy’s body. He denies that they indicate that he is a member of the Aryan Nations, but, Newsday says, his gang affiliation at the jail is “white supremacist”.

Tags : hate crimes, jeffrey conroy, marcelo lucero

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