NY man who said he was too drunk to remember ‘merciless’ fatal beating of pal found guilty of murder
A Westchester County man who was too blackout drunk to remember beating his buddy to death on a White Plains sidewalk was stone cold sober Monday when a jury found him guilty in the slaying.
Jare Diaz, 26, was found guilty of second-degree murder and now faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years to life behind bars when he is sentenced on March 27, prosecutors said.
“I am grateful for the jury’s verdict and for the diligent work of our prosecutorial team, which brought about this just result,” Westchester County District Attorney Susan Cacace said in a statement.
“The merciless beating of Mr. Guzman-Desdicho left him mangled and unrecognizable on a cold November night. This kind of violence can never become a normal part of daily life in Westchester.”
Cacace called the fatal attack “unprovoked.”
Diaz testified last week that he doesn’t remember punching and kicking his friend Otoniel Guzman Desdicho more than 30 times after running into him following a drinking binge on Nov. 26, 2022 — despite repeatedly watching surveillance video footage of the fatal assault.
“Since the first day I was in jail until now I’ve tried to remember but I’ve been unable,” he told his lawyer, Angelo MacDonald, after testifying in a White Plains courtroom.
Diaz was distraught on the night of the attack after his wife left him and took their young son over his heavy drinking and marijuana use — and decided to go on a bender, lohud.com reported.
He said he drank beer and Bacardi rum before scuffling with the victim around 11:30 p.m.
Two cameras captured the confrontation, including from an East Post Road laundromat, which showed the two getting into a drunken shoving match before Diaz allegedly attacked his friend, the outlet said.
At one point the video shows Diaz dragging Desdicho on the ground.
The victim was put on life support at the Westchester Medical Center where he died three days later.
Diaz has been held at the Westchester County Jail without bail since Nov. 28, 2022.
