Elmont man sentenced to life in prison
Dario Ormejuste leaves Nassau County Courthouse after being sentenced in Mineola. (July 25, 2012) Credit: Howard Schnapp
An Elmont man was sentenced to life in prison without parole yesterday after being convicted of killing his entire family then continuing to live in the house with two of the bodies until a relative called police two days later.
Dario Ormejuste, 25, was convicted of first- and second-degree murder in June.
His lawyer, Dana Grossblatt, of Jericho, said her client was prepared for the sentence and plans to appeal.
At Ormejuste's sentencing in Nassau County Court in Mineola, Judge Jerald Carter mourned what he called a good family, saying no one will ever know the reason for the senseless killings on June 21, 2010.
Ormejuste's brother, Guerby, was a New York City correction officer who was so kindhearted that friends at first doubted he could do the no-nonsense job of controlling prisoners, Carter said. Guerby Ormejuste, 30, was the first to die, prosecutor Michael Walsh said in court, when Dario Ormejuste used his brother's service pistol to shoot him 10 times.
His father, Bob Ormejuste, was "one of the people who contributed day in and day out to society, very quietly," Carter said, cleaning a local hospital for 25 years. And Ormejuste's mother, Rose Ormejuste, was always Dario Ormejuste's biggest ally, Carter said, never ceasing to believe in "who he was and who he could be."
Rose Ormejuste's body was found about two weeks after she was killed, in the trunk of Guerby Ormejuste's car in Brooklyn.
"At this point . . . I have to take into account what the gravity and the danger is to the rest of society," Carter said in court before handing down his sentence.
Walsh said Carter had no choice but to put Ormejuste in prison for life, where he can do no more harm.
"This had to be the sentence," he said. "If he could do this to his own family, he could do it to anybody. He needs to be kept away from society forever."
At the end of the court proceeding, Carter spoke of Ormejuste's arraignment, when, seemingly confused, the defendant asked a different judge, "Who am I?"
"You're the murderer of your family," Carter answered. "That's who you are."
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