District Attorney Jim Farrell announced today that Jensy Delacruz, 20, of Monticello, N.Y. was sentenced to a total of 30 years in state prison and 5 years post release supervision for his role in shooting at another man and an occupied home in the Village of Liberty in August of 2011 and threatening a witness to the shootings. Farrell said that Delacruz was convicted by a jury in Sullivan County Court in June of 2012 of all charges arising out of two incidents involving gunfire, including a drive-by shooting, that occurred in Liberty on Carrier Street.

The jury previously convicted Delacruz, after about 30 minutes of deliberations, of Attempted Assault in the 1st Degree, a class C violent felony, four counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2nd Degree, all class C violent felonies, and Reckless Endangerment in the 1st Degree, a class D felony.

Farrell said that the jury found that Delacruz and another man possessed a 380 caliber firearm and attempted to seriously injure Ricardo Pena by firing the gun at him and others in August 2011 at a home on Carrier Street in the Village of Liberty. The evidence established that Delacruz went to the home to confront Pena over a girl and physically fought with Pena at about 8:45 p.m., when the first shots were fired. The evidence further established that Delacruz and the other man left the scene and returned at about 10:00 p.m. and fired an additional six rounds into the house from a vehicle, recklessly creating a grave risk of death to the residents inside. No one was injured in either of the shootings.

Delacruz asked that Judge Frank LaBuda set aside the jury’s verdict but Labuda denied that request. Farrell said his office recommended a 30 year sentence for Delacruz with 15 years on each shooting incident with those sentences to run consecutively, which LaBuda imposed.

Delacruz also pled guilty to Intimidating a Witness in the 3rd Degree, a felony on December 13, 2012. Farrell said that Delacruz admitted to threatening a witness to the shootings on March 23, 2012, in the Village of Monticello when Delacruz was free on bail, in an attempt to keep the witness from testifying at trial against him. That witness did, however, testify at the trial that resulted in Delacruz’s conviction.

The case was investigated by the Village of Liberty Police, who put together a compelling case including the recovery of numerous bullet casings, including two bullet casings from Delacruz’s vehicle, and the recovery of a gun case from the execution of a search warrant at Delacruz’s residence, in the Village of Monticello. No gun was ever recovered.

Farrell praised the work of Assistant D.A. Rob Zangla and the Village of Liberty Police, saying, “We have been very successful in Liberty at solving these crimes and making sure those responsible are held accountable, and that is due to the good work of the Liberty Police and the detective division who worked tirelessly to put together a strong and compelling case.

Those individuals who think that this behavior will be ignored are sadly mistaken. Violence in our streets will not be tolerated. Threatening witnesses will not be tolerated and those who engage in this type of behavior will be held responsible and accountable. The sentence imposed here does just that. My office and the local police will do everything in our power and we will bring to bear all of our resources to protect those witnesses who bravely come forward and have made the conscious decision to stand up to violence in our community.”

Charges remain pending against the second man involved in the incident, Steven Bristow, aka “Dog Pound”, 23, of Brooklyn, N.Y.