A Manhattan jury found small-time marijuana dealer Luis Martinez guilty Friday of the attempted murder of two cops for a Lower East Side gunfight he sparked nearly two years ago.
It took the jury less than three days to convict Martinez, 26, on four counts of attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He faces up to life in prison at his sentencing next month.
“Horrible!” was defense lawyer Matthew Myer’s reaction to the verdict.
When Martinez spotted the two cops on patrol February 27th of 2012, he abruptly turned and walked the other way, Detective Thomas Richards testified earlier this month in Manhattan Supreme Court.
When Richards approached Martinez, he pulled out a gun and fired three shots then took off on foot down Columbia Street.
Richards’ life was saved when his gun belt deflected one of the bullets. The brave cop’s partner returned fire and nailed the thug in his buttocks.
Last week Martinez, a former Baruch College student, testified that it was too dark to tell that the two uniformed cops who exited an unmarked van late at night were police.
Martinez told jurors he’d only opened fire because he thought he was being robbed and his life was endangered.
He’d been held up twice shortly before the incident and bought the gun for protection, he claimed.
Martinez plans to appeal the verdict.