The three people accused in the brutal murder of a pizza deliveryman in September admitted to police they were at the crime scene that night, but pegged one another for starting the vicious attack.
Alexander Gallett, 18, Yamiley Mathurin, 17, and Michel St. Jean, 20, were arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court yesterday after a grand jury indicted them for the murder of Richel Nova.
Prosecutors described in gruesome detail the attack on the 58-year-old deliveryman and father from Hyde Park who stayed late that September night because another driver failed to show up for work.
Prosecutors, quoting statements the suspects gave to police, said the men dragged Nova back into the apartment as he tried to flee the attack.
Surveillance cameras on a nearby business recorded Nova following some of the suspects to the house and then, about five minutes later, the trio leaving with a box of pizza.
Prosecutors said they were told by witnesses who saw the trio after the murder that they all smelled of bleach, which was used in an apparent effort to wipe down the blood and other evidence.
The arraignment was attended by nearly two dozen of Nova’s family and friends, including his son. Some of them looked down at the floor with their eyes closed as prosecutors recalled the murder.
St. Jean’s attorney, Robert Jubinville, said his client cooperated with police and denies taking part in the killing or even touching the knives.
After the arraignment, District Attorney Daniel Conley said the murder “cries out for the maximum punishment” of life in prison without parole.
