A former member of the US Coast Guard was dishonorably discharged — to prison — by a Queens judge for the execution-style murder of a childhood friend.
“He became the pinnacle of shame,” said prosecutor Debra Pomodore before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise on Wednesday sentenced Marcus Ayala to 20 years to life for the “pre-planned, vengeful” killing of Kalif Canady in February 2010.
Ayala, 22, was stationed in Norfolk, Va. when he told a shipmate that he was going to New York to avenge the death of his cousin, Daud Abdul-Hakim, who was killed eight months earlier, according to trial testimony.
The disgraced Coast Guard member told police Canady or others from an East New York housing project — near where they grew up on Alabama Avenue — was a suspect in his cousin’s murder.
“He didn’t just take the law in his own hands, he took the role of God,” said Judge Aloise before imposing Ayala’s punishment for second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
“My son wasn’t a saint, but he was a good person, a father and friend. Because of friendships he got caught up in someone else’s mess,” said Canady’s heartbroken father, Percell R. Porter III during his impact statement.
Canady was in the process of packing his SUV to move his infant son and girlfriend, Cassandra Grey, to North Carolina when he was “tracked down” by Ayala on 27th Avenue in Astoria and was “executed in cold blood,” said Pomodore.
“The killer is still out there,” said Ayala, who continued to maintains his innocence despite eyewitness testimony from Grey and other technological evidence that placed him at the scene.
Abdul-Hakim’s murder is still unsolved, according to sources.
Ayala’s attorney, Jonathan Latimer plans to file an appeal.