Monticello man convicted of murder

Posted 2/28/17

District Attorney Jim Farrell announced today that Carolos Serrano, aka Jay Menor Serrano, 24, of Monticello, N.Y. and previously of Brooklyn, N.Y. was convicted after a jury trial in Sullivan County …

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Monticello man convicted of murder

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District Attorney Jim Farrell announced today that Carolos Serrano, aka Jay Menor Serrano, 24, of Monticello, N.Y. and previously of Brooklyn, N.Y. was convicted after a jury trial in Sullivan County Court of murder and related charges. Serrano was convicted after the jury deliberated for about five hours.

Farrell said the evidence at trial established that Serrano approached the porch at 62 Park Avenue in Monticello on the early evening of June 28, 2016, and, after inquiring where his estranged wife was and where his son was, opened fire on Juan Medina, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y. Farrell called to the witnesses stand Serrano’s estranged wife, who positively identified her husband as the shooter, and a neighbor who also knew Serrano from living in the same apartment building with him. Both women positively identified Serrano as the murderer immediately after the murder to Monticello Police and State Police Investigators, and pointed him out for the jury at trial. 

A third woman, whose 8 year old daughter was on the porch, testified that the victim, Medina, in his last act before he died, grabbed her daughter and got her out of the line of gunfire and likely saved her daughter’s life, before collapsing and dying in the doorway. She accurately described the gunman as short, skinny, and Spanish, with a tattoo on his neck, wearing a black T-shirt and black pants. This description matches Serrano, who has the tattoo “MENOR” emblazoned across his neck, and corroborated the identifications provided by Serrano’s estranged wife and other eyewitness.

Serrano was taken into custody about three hours after the homicide at Sleepy Hollow by Monticello Police after they identified a vehicle that was involved in the homicide and that witnesses described driving by the house prior to the shooting. Inside the vehicle, a red Mitsubishi Lancer, police found a cellular phone that they were able to establish belonged to Serrano. After a forensic search of Serrano’s phone, the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center found two relevant text messages that further connected Serrano to the homicide, including a text sent on June 19, 2016, to his estranged wife that stated: “I got you . .. I tell you I dnt want no man around my son” and a text sent just ten hours prior to the murder that stated: “You bring some [man] next to my son is over when I see you !!!” Farrell said that Serrano had been to his estranged wife’s apartment the night before the shooting to “mark his prey” and to confirm that his wife had moved another man into the apartment.    

Farrell praised the work of the Monticello Police, the New York State Police, Investigators from the DA’s Office and the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center for their work in this case. “Serrano set out to kill Juan Medina, in cold blood, whose only offense was to become involved in a relationship with this defendant’s estranged wife and to have moved into an apartment with the defendant’s son. Serrano committed this act in broad daylight, without care of who saw him, and without care for who he could have killed. There were four people on the porch when he opened fire on Medina and anyone of the other three individuals, including the 8-year-old child, could have been killed. But for the acts of Medina that day, there likely would have been more bloodshed. This jury’s verdict will ensure that Serrano gets justice when he is sentenced,” Farrell said. Serrano will be sentenced on May 19, 2017.

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