March 30, 2023 – Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced today that a Yonkers man was sentenced as a second violent felony offender to 15 years in state prison for attacking a man with a brick and hammer on a Yonkers sidewalk before robbing him in March 2021.
DA Rocah said: “Today’s lengthy prison sentence holds a violent offender accountable for his malicious attack on a victim, whose life has been permanently altered by this traumatic attack.”
After a nearly two-week trial, a jury on February 3, 2023, found Juan Rodriguez, 38, guilty of two counts of Robbery in the First Degree, Assault in the First Degree, two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, and Assault in the Second Degree, all felonies. The defendant will also be subject to five years of post-release supervision.
On March 1, 2021, at approximately 3:43 p.m., the defendant hid behind a tree and then approached the victim from behind and threw a brick at the back of the victim’s head as he walked on the sidewalk on Riverdale Avenue in Yonkers, causing him to fall to the ground. The defendant then struck the victim in the face multiple times with a hammer, stole $30 from his hand, and fled the scene.
As detailed during the trial, surveillance video captured the defendant picking up the brick from behind the tree and removing the hammer from his waistband as he watched the victim, whom he knew, cross Riverdale Avenue before attacking him. The attack itself was also captured on surveillance video.
The victim was transported to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where he underwent facial reconstruction surgery, received permanent plates and screws in his face, and a mesh net to hold up his eye. The victim underwent an additional surgery to treat his injuries, and continues to suffer nerve damage, numbness, headaches, and has difficulty opening his mouth and eating.
The Yonkers Police Department arrested the defendant in Yonkers on April 14, 2021, following an investigation.
In a statement read in court, the victim said: “When I close my eyes, all I see is the hammer coming down. Just to think about it sends shivers down my spine... I wish I never had to go through this.”
The District Attorney thanked the Yonkers Police Department for their collaboration on this case. The case was before Judge George Fufidio in Westchester County Court, and was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Elizabeth Marcus and Courtney Johnson, both of the Trials and Investigations Division.
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Anna Young, Public Information Officer
(914) 995-6551
ayoung@westchesterda.net
