Jury Convicts Freeport Man of First-Degree Murder

Marvin Delarosa faces life without the possibility of parole for December 2007 killing

MINEOLA, NY - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that a jury has convicted Marvin Delarosa of the robbery and murder of 19-year-old Michael Muniz in December of 2007. 

Delarosa, 21, of Freeport, was convicted of Murder in the First Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree and Robbery in the First Degree. He is due back in court for sentencing May 28.

Rice said that on December 5, 2007, Delarosa used a payphone to call Muniz, from whom he had purchased drugs in the past, and arranged a meeting. Delarosa entered Muniz’s 1998 black Audi at about 5 p.m. that day and shot him once in the chest with a .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun, before stealing Muniz’s marijuana. Muniz staggered out of the vehicle and collapsed on Harris Avenue in Freeport. Delarosa drove away in the car, parking it a few blocks away.

A gun that was later fished out of a Freeport canal matched the bullet found in Muniz during his autopsy. A witness who testified at trial admitted to seeing Delarosa throw the gun into the canal in an attempt to hide the weapon and also testified that Delarosa had told him on the morning of the murder that he had a dream the previous night that he had killed Muniz. The jury rejected the defense’s claims that Delarosa was buying Chinese food at the time of the killing.

“This is a senseless crime that requires no less than the most severe sentence possible,” Rice said. “I only hope that the Muniz family takes some solace in knowing that Mr. Delarosa will be spending many, many years in prison for his heinous crime.”

Handling the case for the District Attorney's Office is Assistant District Attorney Zeena Abdi of the Major Offense Bureau.Representing the defendant is Jeffrey Groder, Esq.