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If he can’t swing another deal with prosecutors, Edwin Estrada will be tried for hitting Vincent Leuzzi several times over the head with a pot, killing him, during a burglary of his Fairview home in July 2010.
Under the terms of the agreement he came to court with, Estrada was to receive 27 years in prison for a conviction of first-degree aggravated manslaughter for admitting that he
As a violent offender, he would have to serve 85 percent of the sentence — just about 23 years — before he is eligible for parole.
However, Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi disagreed with defense lawyer John Pieroni’s contention that the killing was unintentional, called it severely brutal and said that Leuzzi’s family wants — and deserves — a longer prison term.
Some have demanded the death penalty.
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As First Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor John Higgins previously noted, the state dropped 10 other counts against Estrada in exchange for his guilty plea, after initially insisting on 30 years without parole.
Estrada originally intended to plead not guilty by reason of diminished capacity, said his lawyer, John Pieroni.
His client first attempted suicide when he was 8, came from an abusive family and suffers from bi-polar and anti-social disorders, the attorney said.
Estrada was arrested in New York City and originally charged in Hackensack with attempted murder and armed robbery of the retired mason and bricklayer, who came to the U.S. from his native Italy 73 years ago.
He made things easy for investigators by using Leuzzi’s credit card to buy clothing in Washington Heights, in a transaction captured on surveillance video.
The charges were upgraded to murder after Leuzzi’s death nine days after the attack.
Estrada has remained held on $1 million bail in the Bergen County Jail since then.
STORY, PHOTOS by Mary K. Miraglia. TOP: Edwin Estrada, with his attorney, John Pieroni
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