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David “Blokk” Ayala, 39, of Schenectady, was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter and related charges by a Schenectady County jury on Thursday, Jan. 30, in the November 2022 killing of Matteo Henderson.
Ayala had repeatedly vowed to harm or kill the 26-year-old father of two following an altercation between the two in the summer of 2022, prosecutors said.
Witnesses testified that he followed through on those threats, firing a single, fatal shot to the head from a distance before fleeing the scene on Odell Street in Schenectady on Nov. 23, 2022.
Despite attempting to obscure the getaway vehicle’s license plate and hiding the car in a friend’s garage, Ayala was captured on surveillance footage from a county-run camera system, prosecutors said.
Investigators also used cell phone data and tower mapping to place Ayala at the scene at the time of the shooting.
Ayala remained on the lam for over a year before members of the US Marshals Task Force arrested him at a Colonie motel in January 2024. He was still in possession of his girlfriend’s car, the same one seen on surveillance video, prosecutors said.
The murder weapon was never recovered, but detectives concluded it was most likely a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.
In court Thursday, after deliberating for four and a half hours, jurors found Ayala guilty of:
- Manslaughter in the first degree
- Two counts of criminal possession of a weapon
- Two counts of tampering with physical evidence
“As to why the jury convicted him of manslaughter and not murder, the jury may have concluded there was ambiguity as to his intent given the fact that he shot only one time from some distance away, even though the shot produced a fatal head wound,” said Schenectady County DA Robert Carney.
Ayala faces 20 years to life in prison–the same he could have received had he been convicted of murder–given his status as a “persistent violent felon” with multiple prior convictions, Carney said.
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