Leniz 'La Diablita' Escobar should not get new trial in killings of 4 young men in Central Islip in 2017, feds say

Federal prosecutors’ failure to provide information that could have undercut a prosecution witness’s testimony at the trial of MS-13 gang associate known as “La Diablita,” who was convicted last year of luring four young men to their deaths at a Central Islip park, is not enough to overturn the jury’s guilty verdict, prosecutors argued in court papers this week.

In a 23-page memo, the prosecutors who tried the case conceded the material, which consisted of notes from an interview with an unnamed cooperator who said that a government witness was present when a woman was raped, should have been provided to the defense before the trial.

But they argued that the disclosure would not have changed the outcome of the trial, and therefore the delay in providing the information does not constitute a Brady violation, which requires a “reasonable probability” that a different verdict would have resulted had the information been disclosed.

“Certainly, the June 24, 2019 proffer notes concerning the rape are favorable to the defendant, because they are impeaching; and they should have been, but were not, produced to the defense earlier,” the prosecutors wrote.

In April, Leniz Escobar, then 22, was convicted of racketeering and murder in aid of racketeering on the fifth anniversary of the four victims’ April 2017 hacking deaths in a Central Islip park. Killed in the April 11, 2017 attack were: Jorge Tigre, 18, of Bellport; Justin Llivicura, 16, of East Patchogue; Michael Lopez, 20, of Brentwood; and Lopez’s cousin, Jefferson Villalobos, 18, of Pompano Beach, Florida. She is awaiting sentencing.

Escobar and her co-conspirator Keyli Gomez, who also testified as a cooperating government witness, lured the young men, along with their friend Alexander Artiaga-Ruiz, with the promise to smoke marijuana. But Escobar, who wanted to enhance her stature as a gang associate, had a week earlier reported photos of Artiaga-Ruiz making gang signs on social media, and knew the fate he and his friends awaited, according to trial testimony.

Artiaga-Ruiz escaped the 14 attackers, who were armed with machetes, blades and a chisel, by jumping a fence and a stone wall and later led police to the victims’ remains.

Escobar’s attorneys last November filed a motion seeking a new trial arguing that prosecutors failed to disclose information that contradicted the statement of prosecution witness Sergio Vladimir Segovia-Pineda, who testified against Escobar at her trial and about his own role in the killings.

Segovia-Pineda, an MS-13 gang member, told the jury he used a chisel and a machete on the victims as they screamed and later burned one of their shoes to destroy potential evidence.

While being cross-examined by Escobar’s defense attorney Jesse Siegel, who attempted to show that his client was afraid of being victimized by MS-13 gang members, Segovia-Pineda said he had heard secondhand about the rape of a woman several months before the killings at an abandoned Central Islip house that was used an MS-13 hangout.

But in a June 24, 2019 interview, an unnamed non-testifying cooperating defendant told federal prosecutors that Segovia-Pineda was present when the rape occurred and had brought the victim to the house that night and, along with others, had prevented her from leaving.

Prosecutors argued there is no evidence Segovia-Pineda lied during his testimony. Despite the government cooperators’ contention that Segovia-Pineda had brought the victim to the house, was present when she was raped and had prevented her from leaving, prosecutors said another non-testifying cooperating defendant “had corroborated Segovia-Pineda’s account of his whereabouts that night.”

Segovia-Pineda’s testimony was among an “avalanche” of evidence against Escobar, including recorded phone calls with her incarcerated boyfriend, an MS-13 gang member, which prosecutors said amounted to her confession.

“In fact, the most important witness against the defendant was not Segovia-Pineda, but rather, was cooperating defendant Keyli Gomez, who testified over the course of three days about the direct communications she had with the defendant at every stage, including vetting the victims, planning the murders, feigning fear and contrition during the murders, and concocting a false narrative for law enforcement in the aftermath of the murders,” prosecutors wrote.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.