MS-13 Witness Bludgeoned to Death After His Identity Was Made Public Due to ‘Criminal Justice Reform’ in New York

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Feb 6, 2020

Wilmer Maldonado Rodriguez, 36, was brutally bludgeoned to death in New Cassel, New York after so-called criminal justice reform allowed his identity to be revealed to the public.

“This courageous man was prepared to testify against his alleged assailants at an upcoming trial, but he was brutally beaten to death before he could,” Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said in a statement, adding: “This case underscores the importance of safeguarding the identities of witnesses and victims of crime and our hearts are with Mr. Maldonado’s family and friends as we grieve his loss. ”

Rodriguez, who was homeless at the time of his vicious murder, had testified in court against MS-13 thugs who had brutally beaten and stabbed him in Oct. 2018. His name was unmasked after a judge nullified a protective order, which allowed the defense attorneys for the alleged MS-13 members to find out Rodriguez’s identity. These types of lax criminal justice measures are being encouraged by leftists in the state for defendants’ rights. Rodriguez was bludgeoned to death weeks later.

The defense attorneys deny any complicity in the brutal murder of Rodriguez.

“I never gave him the name of those people. And he never asked me for it,” said Greg Madey, who is the defense attorney for 20-year-old defendant Denis Pineda.

“I’m offended by the allegation that Denis Pineda had something to do with orchestrating this murder,” he added.

Attorney Justin Feinman, who represents 19-year-old defendant Elian Ramos Velasquez, said that “at this point to say that it was a defense attorney that leaked without more information is completely inappropriate.”

“I feel horrible that this happened,” Feinman added. “This should have never happened. I just don’t see how you can blame a particular judge or attorney.”

Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty wanted to start the trial by Jan. 6, which may have saved Rodriguez’s life. However, this was impossible due to criminal justice reform laws that went into effect at the beginning of the year. Because of these laws, Rodriguez had his identity unmasked and then was left to languish on the streets. He suffered an unimaginably brutal death as a result of this failure of New York’s liberal policies.

Singas said in her statement that her team of prosecutors “protected this victim’s identity by obtaining a protective order in December of 2018, but his identity was disclosed pursuant to a judge’s order in December 2019.”

Her spokesman maintained that Singas’ team “continued to request that the identities of the witnesses be protected until we could be ready for trial.”

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder and Nassau County Executive Laura Curran initially placed the blame on leftist-driven criminal justice reform laws, but were forced to backtrack later following pressure and condemnation from the liberal state government.

“We’re asking Albany to go back and rethink it. Come back with changes to that law, but it needs to happen quickly before we have another victim as in this case,” Ryder said.

This is just one horror story of many that is the legacy of New York’s soft-on-crime leftist regime that now controls all three chambers of the state government.