Murder Convictions In Drug Deal Gone Bad
Posted on Friday, 13 of November , 2009 at 5:15 pm
SUFFOLK COUNTY—A Suffolk County jury has convicted two men of murdering Joseph Odierno of Miller Place, and Jairo Santos of Washington Heights after a drug deal gone bad.
Darren Lynch, 29, of Middle Village, Queens, and James R. Wall, of Coram, arrested for the murders in August last year, were found guilty Friday after approximately 90 minutes of jury deliberations.
Lynch was convicted of first degree murder, a sentence that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Wall, his codefendant, faces a maximum of 25 years to life. District Attorney Thomas Spota said the people will recommend maximum sentences for each defendant at their formal sentencing Dec. 11.
Lynch testified on Tuesday that he killed Odierno, 35, and Santos, 22, because he was “infuriated” the pair sold him fake cocaine. He admitted on the stand that he shot both men, dismembered their bodies in his Queens apartment, and buried the body parts in a Coram sump and behind his mother’s house at on Summercress Lane.
A third defendant, Lynch’s live-in girlfriend, Leah Reynolds, 22, pleaded guilty in May to weapons possession and hindering prosecution charges and will be sentenced at a later date.
The jury also found the pair guilty of first and second degree kidnapping. 11-13-09
Category: Courts, Crime, Drugs
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