BRONX DA: From Goldman Sachs to Murder Conviction

L to R: Alexis Sanchez (Dept. of Correction; Stephen Mari (Courtesy of Mari family)

$35 DRUG DEBT LEADS TO MURDER

Jury Convicts Alexis Sanchez in Parkchester Alleyway Killing

(Bronx, NY––February 13, 2015) – Bronx County District Attorney Robert Johnson announces the conviction of ALEXIS SANCHEZ for the murder of 42- year old STEPHEN MARI.

Following a two week long trial and a day-and-a half-long deliberation, a jury on February 11^th found SANCHEZ guilty of:

Murder in the 2^nd Degree (Class A Felony)

Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the 2^nd Degree (Class C Violent Felony)

SANCHEZ was a graduate of St. Raymond’s High School in the Bronx and employed as a computer tech at Goldman Sachs.  ALEXIS SANCHEZ was also a drug addict. But by November 2, 2011 he had been out of that job for a few weeks and looking to score heroin from his regular dealer, Stephen Mari.

SANCHEZ was going to be $35 short on a $180 drug deal. So he lured Mari into the alleyway between 1523 and 1525 Purdy Street near Parkchester. That’s where he took a .380 semi-automatic handgun and shot at Mari eight times, hitting him with six of those bullets, severing his victim’s spleen, intestines, lung, spinal cord,  with one of those bullets entering the 42-year-old father’s head and brain.

The shooter then left his dealer to die in that alleyway, which was just a half block from his old high school. Speeding off in his mother’s SUV, SANCHEZ would remain at large for another nine months, thinking he’d gotten away with murder.  Once under arrest, SANCHEZ gave a video statement to Bronx Assistant D.A. Joshua Gradinger in which he recreated his version of the events with Detective Robert Schlosser of the 43^rd Precinct (still from video below).

At trial, ALEXIS SANCHEZ claimed Mari had kidnapped him because of the money shortfall, that the dealer had pulled a gun, and that he had wrestled it from the much larger man, reluctantly firing eight times. But those facts were refuted by a forensic pathologist who took the stand and other testimony during trial, and ultimately disbelieved by the jury.

31-year-old ALEXIS SANCHEZ faces up to 40 years to life in prison. He will be sentenced on March 6, 2015 before Justice Margaret Clancy, Bronx Supreme Court.

The case against ALEXIS SANCHEZ was prosecuted by Bronx Assistant District Attorney Joshua Gradinger of Trial Bureau 30/40.

During video interrogation, Sanchez illustrates with NYPD Det. Robert Schlosser his claim that he wrestled the gun away from victim Stephen Mari (BXDA)