CRIME

Yonkers gang member sentenced for teen's murder

Christopher J. Eberhart
Rockland/Westchester Journal News

The man responsible for the murder of 16-year-old Ka'Shawn Phillips in Yonkers more than 12 years ago was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. 

Juan Martinez, aka "KJ," a member of the Yonkers faction of the violent Trinitarios Gang, was involved with a fistfight with Phillips at a pickup basketball game on Sept. 5, 2005, federal prosecutors said. 

Martinez, who was 30 at the time, first attacked Phillips with a machete and then enlisted members of the Bronx faction of the Trinitarios Gang to attack Phillips, according to prosecutors. 

Armed with guns, knives and swords, a mob of gang members shot, beat and stabbed Phillips to death. 

Joon Kim, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said his office, going back to his predecessor Preet Bharara, have charged at least 149 members and associates of the Trinitarios Gang. 

“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," Kim said in a statement. "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." 

Twitter: @ChrisEberhart2