Sentencing in 16-Year-Old's Murder After Pickup Game Fistfight

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — A Yonkers man has been sentenced for his participation in the murder of a 16-year-old in Yonkers in 2005. Juan Martinez, a member of the violent Trinitarios gang, got other gang members armed with guns, knives, and swords to shoot and stab Ka'Shawn Phillips to death in retaliation for a fistfight at a pickup basketball game. Martinez was 30 at the time.

Martinez, aka KJ, was sentenced Wednesday by United States District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer to a term of 30 years in prison for his participation in a racketeering conspiracy and in the murder of Phillips on September 5, 2005.

“On a Labor Day weekend 12 years ago, Juan Martinez recruited a hit squad of his fellow Trinitarios Gang members to murder 16-year-old Ka’Shawn Phillips, who had earlier been involved in a fistfight with Martinez," said Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "The Trinitarios Gang members recruited by Martinez brutally shot, beat, and stabbed Phillips to death in the middle of the street. While nothing can bring Phillips back, we hope his family finds a measure of solace in the justice achieved by today’s sentence. Together with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to aggressively prosecute all those who engage in these senseless acts of violence in our communities.”

In imposing sentence, Judge Engelmayer noted the “savagery of the attack,” and observed that Martinez was “personally responsible for the slaughter” of Phillips and that Martinez’s crime was “as wrongful and evil as a crime can be.”

According to the Indictment,and other documents filed in the case, as well as statements made during the sentencing proceedings, The Trinitarios Gang was a violent gang that was formed in the New York state prison system in the early 1990s and subsequently spread to the streets. Martinez – who was 30 years old at the time – was involved in a fistfight with Phillips at a pickup basketball game in Yonkers. He retaliated first by attacking Phillips with a machete, and then by enlisting members of the Bronx faction of the Trinitarios Gang. Armed with guns, knives, and swords, a mob of Trinitarios Gang members shot, beat, and stabbed Phillips to death in the middle of the street.

In addition to the prison term, Martinez, 42, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Image via Shutterstock