Brothers Alexi, Jairo Saenz won't face death penalty in multiple MS-13 gang killings on Long Island, DOJ says

The U.S. Justice Department will not seek the death penalty for alleged MS-13 members Alexi Saenz and his brother, Jairo Saenz, who face criminal charges in the killings of seven victims on Long Island, including the 2016 slayings of two Brentwood teenagers.

Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the Justice Department’s decision to forgo the death penalty on Friday in a letter to U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown, who is expected to oversee the brothers’ trial, scheduled for March 4. 

The government filed notices of intent to seek the death penalty against the Saenzes in 2020 in connection with their alleged roles in the September 2016 killings of Brentwood teens Kayla Cuevas, 16, and Nisa Mickens, 15; slayings that focused the nation’s attention on Long Island’s gang issues.

“It is wonderful news and we are relieved for our clients,” said attorney Jacqueline K. Walsh of Seattle, one of Jairo Saenz’s lawyers. She said she was thankful that Justice Department officials gave a “thoughtful review” of the mitigating factors outlined in the request to abandon the death penalty. Walsh declined to discuss those mitigating factors.

Attorneys for Alexi Saenz did not immediately return requests for comment. 

The brothers are also charged in the deaths of Michael Johnson, Oscar Acosta, Javier Castillo, Dewann Stacks and Esteban Alvarado-Bonilla.

“The government has been authorized and directed by United States Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to withdraw the notices of intention to seek the death penalty against Alexi Saenz and Jairo Saenz,” Breon said in his letter to Brown. 

John Marzulli, a spokesman for the Eastern District of New York, declined to comment on the letter. 

Alexi Saenz, 28, also know as “Blasty” and “Big Homie,” was the leader of MS-13’s Brentwood and Central Islip-based Sailors Locos Salvatruchas Westside clique. Jairo Saenz, 27, was his No. 2, federal prosecutors have said.

Cuevas and Mickens were attacked in September 2016, shortly after Cuevas and several friends were involved in an altercation with MS-13 members at Brentwood High School, prosecutors have said.

The killings received nationwide attention and Cuevas’ mother, Evelyn Rodriguez, became an anti-gang activist who was the guest of then-President Donald Trump during the 2018 State of the Union address. 

Evelyn Rodriguez, who was run over by a car and killed on the second anniversary of her daughter's death, met with Trump later that year when he visited Brentwood to talk about gang violence with local leaders. 

Relatives of Cuevas, Mickens and other victims did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Cuevas’ father, Freddy Cuevas, and Mickens’ mother, Elizabeth Alvarado, told Newsday in 2020 that they hoped the defendants received the death penalty. 

Former U.S. Attorney William Barr authorized prosecutors to seek the death penalty against the Saenz brothers in 2020. Attorneys for the defendants asked the Justice Department to reconsider that decision after President Joe Biden assumed office and appointed Garland. 

The Justice Department halted federal executions in 2021 after a historic use of capital punishment by the Trump administration, which carried out 13 executions in the last six months of the former president’s term. The department, however, continued to push to uphold the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Alexi Saenz has been charged in the slaying of an eighth victim, Marcus Bohannon. Peace said the Justice Department deferred a decision to seek the death penalty in that case until decisions were reached in the deauthorization requests. 

Peace told Brown his office has asked the Justice Department to make a decision on the death penalty in the Bohannon case by Nov. 29. 

The Saenz brothers face multiple charges, including racketeering, murder, attempted murder, assault, obstruction of justice, arson and related firearms and conspiracy charges. They face up to life in prison if convicted of the charges, prosecutors say.