MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Bronx man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison today for the stabbing death of a 39-year old landscaper outside a Hempstead bar in April 2016.
Daniel Abrego Davila, 33, was convicted by a jury on November 27, 2018, before Judge Helene Gugerty of Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony) and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree (an A misdemeanor).
“Rolando Cruz was savagely stabbed by this defendant during a fight outside of a bar,” DA Singas said. “This sentence ensures that this murderer will spend many years behind bars for this reprehensible crime.”
DA Singas said that on April 10, 2016, shortly after 1 a.m., 39-year-old victim Rolando Cruz, of Freeport, was leaving the Nuevo Arco Iris bar on Fulton Avenue in Hempstead. As the victim was exiting the establishment, defendant Davila and his two friends were attempting to get into the bar but were refused entry by a bouncer. After an exchange of words between the victim and the three men, Cruz was corralled and a physical confrontation ensued.
Davila used a knife to stab the victim approximately five times in the neck, torso, arm and back. The victim collapsed on the sidewalk in front of the bar and he was taken by ambulance to Winthrop Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 1:35 a.m. that morning. The defendant then fled the scene and took the murder weapon.
Davila was arrested on February 19, 2017, in Hempstead by members of the Hempstead Police Department and Nassau County Police Department.
Deputy Bureau Chief Veronica Guariglia and Senior Assistant District Attorney Michelle Lewisohn of DA Singas’ Special Operations, Narcotics and Gangs Bureau are prosecuting this case. Mitchell Barnett, Esq. represents the defendant.
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