GUILTY NY - Noel Alkaramla, 21, Troy, 22 Nov 2015

[JusticeWillBeServed]

http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/capital-region/news/2017/10/30/jury-selection-begins-for-troy-man-accused-in-stepdaughter-s-death

Monday, Johnny Oquendo went on trial for the murder, as jury selection began. Seven jurors were seated Monday.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Trial begins for Troy man accused of killing former stepdaughter

http://www.troyrecord.com/general-news/20171031/trial-begins-for-troy-man-accused-of-killing-former-stepdaughter

“The suitcase was pulled from the bottom of that river, it’s unzipped and inside that ‘coffin’ is Noel’s body,” said Botts. “An autopsy is performed, as part of that autopsy something called a sexual assault evidence collection kit is performed…. Members of the New York State Police laboratory will testify to you that they compared the defendants DNA to the semen found inside Noel.”

“[The defendant] stuffs [Noel] into a suitcase, drags her to the Hudson River and throws his stepdaughter away like a piece of trash,” said Botts.

“You will hear from two witnesses who will tell you that [Noel] was alive and well in the city of Troy near the area of her home,” said Roberts. [Botts] has ignored it because he knows his case is circumstantial, that there is no direct proof, he’s asking you to connect dots and ignore fundamental crucial pieces of evidence.”

Roberts also argued that the semen was found inside of Alkaramla since her and Oquendo “had a casual sexual relationship.”

 

[JerseyGirl]

Oquendo trial hits prosecutorial delay, judge warns lawyers

http://www.timesunion.com/7day-rens...uendo-trial-begins-to-view-video-12327043.php

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Troy murder trial witness heard "scream" and "bump"

"I heard a loud scream and a bump," Chapko, 26, a nursing student, recalled Wednesday. "And then I didn't hear anything after that.... it just sounded like weight being dropped on the ground. It was loud."

Police and prosecutors in Troy say Chapko was listening to a murder. She spoke Wednesday from the witness stand in Rensselaer County Court where her former third-floor neighbor, Johnny Oquendo, 40, is on trial before state Supreme Court Justice Andrew Ceresia charged with the strangulation murder of his stepdaughter Noel Alkaramla, 21.

"I thought someone fell down the stairs," Chapko testified during questioning by Assistant District Attorney Andrew Botts.

Oquendo trial: Surveillance video submitted as evidence

Jurors saw some of the surveillance video today, which shows a person dragging something down River Street in Troy. Minutes later, a person is seen walking across River Street from the area the other person was headed, not dragging anything.

The prosecution hopes to convince jurors that it's Johnny Oquendo walking in the video, dragging a suitcase to the Hudson River.

Meanwhile, Alkaramla's mother Debra Napoli was sent out of the courtroom today. That's because the defense subpeonaed her to testify. That means she can no longer attend court proceedings in the trial.

"She's dead," Napoli said. "I'm here to speak for her. I'm subpoenaed by the defendant. What a monster. He's a monster. He's a monster. And I pray for justice for Noel."

Court began today with testimony from the Rensselaer County medical examiner, who performed an autopsy on Alkaramla in December 2015.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Jurors see suitcase used in Troy woman’s death

Testimony Monday included Anthony Renna, an employee of Dutch Apple Cruise Lines who said he saw a black suitcase in the Hudson River four days after Alkaramla disappeared. He said he tried to retrieve the suitcase with a 20-foot-long boat hook, but the handle broke and the suitcase submerged. He said he called Troy police, but the suitcase wasn’t pulled from the water for another month, when state police divers recovered Alkaramla’s body near the USS Slater in Albany on Dec. 29, 2015.

The prosecution followed by entering into evidence a plastic bag found tied around Alkaramla’s head, as well as a sexual assault kit compiled during her autopsy. Inv. Brian Kenney of the state police Forensic Identification Unit testified no fingerprints were found on the Ricardo Beverly Hills suitcase.

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Oquendo-suitcase-trial-details-grisly-body-12336586.php

Assistant District Attorney Andrew Botts introduced photos to suggest that Oquendo accidentally crushed a beer bottle at Riverfront Park in Troy — an alleged trace of his presence there on the night Alkaramla was strangled and dumped in a suitcase into the Hudson River.

Kenney testified he saw impressions in the soil and a Heineken bottle that had been crushed — both in an area not considered accessible.

Botts gave no indication prosecutors have any direct physical evidence to support the notion that Oquendo left traces of breaking the bottle or impacting the soil.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/capital-region/news/2017/10/30/jury-selection-begins-for-troy-man-accused-in-stepdaughter-s-death

Whitman was testifying for the prosecution. Her original role was simply to identify herself as Oquendo's ex-girlfriend, then identify his cell phone number, and his alleged murder victim's phone number.

But when the defense had a chance to respond, it pounced, attacking Whitman's character in a way no one expected.

"It's true, isn't it, that you broke off your relationship with Johnny Oquendo after discovering pictures of him and Noel Alkaramla on his phone?" Whitman was asked.

"Not correct," she replied.

"Well, isn't it true that Johnny Oquendo broke off his relationship with you because he discovered you were having sex with an [animal]?" the defense countered. Whitman also denied this.

But when defense attorney Bill Roberts proposed to play confiscated videos of her alleged act, Whitman relented: "Those were taken after my relationship with Johnny Oquendo," she said.

http://www.troyrecord.com/article/TR/20171109/NEWS/171109802

After Whitman’s testimony, Ricardo Leal, a records custodian for cellphone provider Sprint, testified — over repeated objections from Roberts — about Alkaramla and Oquendo’s cellphone use on the night Alkaramla disappeared. Leal’s testimony was delayed after Roberts objected earlier in the trial because Alkaramla’s name was misspelled on some documents, but on Thursday, Leal testified that the last call made from Alkaramla’s number was to Oquendo’s number at about 9 p.m. on the night she disappeared. After that, Leal testified, the phone appeared to be either turned off or its battery expended.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Troy murder trial in jury’s hands

http://www.troyrecord.com/general-news/20171116/troy-murder-trial-in-jurys-hands

Seven-hundred-twenty-four days after Noel Alkaramla disappeared, a jury began the task of deciding if her former stepfather is responsible for her death.

A jury of eight men and four women began deliberations late Thursday afternoon in the trial of Johnny Oquendo, spending about 45 minutes behind closed doors before being excused for the day.

“What they’re going to do is ask you to do is take leaps of faith because there’s no evidence,” Roberts told jurors during his 45-minute closing. “Because of their failures, you don’t know. You don’t know, I don’t know, Mr. Botts doesn’t know.”

Botts admitted his case was based primarily on circumstantial evidence during his half-hour closing, but he said that evidence clearly shows Oquendo is guilty.

“A lack of evidence does not mean a lack of crime,” Botts argued. “While this is a circumstantial case, those arrows all point to one person, the defendant. He threw his stepdaughter in the Hudson River, like a piece of trash.”

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Jury finds Oquendo guilty of killing stepdaughter

http://www.timesunion.com/7day-breaking/article/Jury-finds-Oquendo-guilty-of-killing-stepdaughter-12365667.php

Debra Napoli Oquendo long believed her violent ex-husband Johnny was responsible for the murder of her daughter Noel, who was strangled to death and found in a suitcase tossed in the Hudson River two years ago.

On Friday, a Rensselaer County jury agreed with her – quickly.

A jury of eight men and four woman deliberated less than three hours over two days before convicting Johnny Oquendo, 41, of killing his stepdaughter, Noel Alkaramla, 21.

The victim's grieving mother anxiously waited for the verdict beside District Attorney Joel Abelove. She cried tears of joy upon the hearing the foreman of the jury read the words "guilty" three times to all charges: second-degree murder, criminal obstruction of breathing and concealment of a human corpse.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Troy-man-Johnny-Oquendo-faces-prison-in-12446801.php

A judge on Thursday postponed the sentencing of the Troy man convicted of killing his 21-year-old stepdaughter Noel Alkaramla and dumping her 135-pound body in a suitcase in the Hudson River.

Oquendo, 41, who was expected to be sentenced Thursday, will now be sentenced Jan. 11 by Supreme Court Justice Andrew Ceresia. Oquendo faces 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Alkaramla, 21.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Sentencing for Johnny Oquendo is delayed once again, as he seeks a new trial after he was found guilty of murder in November.

Unless an appeal is granted, and a new trial ordered, Oquendo still faces 25 years to life in prison.

http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/ca...ety/2018/01/10/johnny-oquendo-seeks-new-trial

 

[JerseyGirl]

Johnny Oquendo said in his most recent motion that he wants to stop his sentencing on his murder conviction and “ultimately prove his innocence upon a new trial.”

https://www.timesunion.com/news/art...o-toss-out-murder-conviction-and-12640546.php

 

[Cmeliski]

Convicted murderer Oquendo to represent himself going forward in the case.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Johnny-Oquendo-sent-to-prison-for-killing-12738291.php

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Johnny-Oquendo-faces-sentencing-in-stepdaughter-s-12746313.php

Johnny Oquendo told a courtroom Monday he was not guilty of killing his stepdaughter and throwing her body in the Hudson River.

State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Ceresia didn't see it that way and sentenced Oquendo to the maximum — 27 years to life in prison — for the 2015 murder of Noel Alkaramla.

http://www.troyrecord.com/general-news/20180312/troy-man-convicted-of-killing-stepdaughter-gets-27-to-life

Before being sentenced, Oquendo listened to a victim impact statement from Alkaramla’s mother, Debra Napoli.

“I would like the people of New York to understand what [Oquendo] has done, he brutally murdered my baby who was 21-years-old and at the beginning of her life,” said Napoli, who was not allowed in the courtroom during trial after being subpoenaed by the defense as a witness, but was never brought in to take the witness stand during trial.

“[Oquendo] took away my only daughter, who I named Noel because I was told I couldn’t have children, she was a gift to me so I named her Christmas because she was Christmas to me everyday ... This man should never be let out of prison.”