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North Valley Stream man found not guilty in murder

2013 shooting took the life of a Hempstead teen

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A jury found a North Valley Stream man not guilty on May 20 in the 2013 shooting death of a 17-year-old in Hempstead.

Pedro Merchant, 22, was acquitted of second-degree murder and two weapons charges in connection with the death of Dante Quinones-Wright, of Hempstead.

On Sept. 11, 2013, police said, officers found Quinones-Wright lying in the street shortly before 10 p.m. He had sustained three gunshot wounds, in the chest, stomach and groin. He was taken to Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, where doctors operated on him for about 30 minutes before he was pronounced dead at 11 p.m.

Merchant was accused of shooting Quinones-Wright multiple times in front of a home on Dartmouth Street in Hempstead.

Greg Madey, the Mineola attorney who defended Merchant in the case, said the verdict was “the right verdict, according to the law.”

“The case the prosecution presented at the trial was really lacking in evidence,” Madey said, pointing out that a key prosecution witness failed to confirm police officers’ version of events. “He was subpoenaed by the prosecutor and took the stand, but he answered that he couldn’t recall what happened that night.”

The Nassau County district attorney’s office declined to comment on the verdict.

Extra security was brought in to protect against a repeat of the violence that surrounded Merchant’s September 2013 arraignment. At those proceedings, a scuffle broke out among supporters of Merchant and the victim’s family, and six people were arrested and four were injured. This time the trial concluded without incident.

Newsday reported that jurors asked for a review of a portion of the trial testimony before they reached the verdicts. Some of that testimony revealed that Quinones-Wright lost consciousness after removing an oxygen mask while trying to tell Hempstead Police Officer Roman Pettway the name of his killer.

“He said, ‘It was … It was …’ and passed out,” Pettway testified.

According to the paper, Chrissie Quinones, the victim’s 36-year-old mother, spoke after the verdict was announced. “It’s sad to know that somebody got away with taking my son away from me,” she said. “He was everything to me. I don’t wish this on nobody, not even the murderer’s family.”