Opinion ID: 4532397
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Fatal Shooting

Text: Defendant Robert Maffei was prosecuted for having shot and mortally wounded a passenger in a moving vehicle. According to the evidence presented by the prosecution, -2- -3- No. 25 defendant was riding in his female friend’s car on the highway late at night when he shot into the rear of another car, apparently motivated by jealousy. He did not know anyone in the other car and shot after some of the men smiled and waved at defendant’s friend, with whom defendant had a casual romantic relationship, and another female passenger and commented on their beauty. The men in the other car drove to the hospital where the victim was declared brain dead and passed away after the family terminated life support. The shooting was an unprovoked act of violence that resulted in the killing of a young man by another young man. Senseless. The type of act that evokes anger and a desire for justice for the victim and the victim’s family. Unsurprisingly, there was media coverage of the crime.1 1 The media coverage immediately following the murder focused heavily on the circumstances of the shooting (Melissa Grace, DRIVE-BY KILLER HUNTED Teen shot as he rides with pals in 2nd car, NY Daily News, June 9, 2003, https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/boroughs/drive-by-killer-hunted-teen-shot-ridespals-2nd-car-article-1.673575; Tamer El-Ghobashy and Alice Mcquillan, On Highway, A Stolen Glance & A Forfeit Life, NY Daily News, May 19, 2003, https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/highway-stolen-glance-forfeit-life-article- 1.672358; Lorena Mongelli, Car Ogle Deadly For Teen, NY Post, May 19, 2003, https://nypost.com/2003/05/19/car-ogle-deadly-for-teen/; Shaila K. Dewan, Metro Briefing | New York: Brooklyn: Man Is Fatally Shot, NY Times, May 19, 2003, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/19/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-brooklyn-manis-fatally-shot.html?searchResultPosition=1; Police Have Possible Motive In Fatal Brooklyn Highway Shooting, NY1 News, May 19, 2003, https://www.ny1.com/nyc/allboroughs/archives/2003/05/19/police-have-possible-motive-in-fatal-brooklyn-highwayshooting.NYC_30336; Police Release Photo Of Car Believed To Be Involved In Deadly Highway Shooting, NY1 News, June 10, 2003, https://www.ny1.com/nyc/allboroughs/archives/2003/06/10/police-release-photo-of-car-believed-to-be-involved-indeadly-highway-shooting.NYC_30906). In particular, the coverage stressed that shooting may have been the result of jealousy after the victim and other passengers in the car made comments about or glances at the females in the car in which defendant was traveling. Further, the media noted favorable details about the victim, including that he was a college student at Lincoln Tech with a 4.0 GPA and that his prior arrest was likely a case of -3- -4- No. 25 For over two years, the police were unable to identify the shooter, until finally they got a lead on the two women who were in the car with defendant, and who told the police about the shooting. Thereafter, the police arrested defendant. Another round of press coverage followed.2 The prosecutor presented testimony from witnesses in the other car, who described the highway shooting and driving the victim immediately to the hospital, and the females in the car from which the fatal gunshot was fired, who recounted how defendant shot into that other car as they drove by and then threatened both of them to convince them not to report him, as well as evidence concerning the police investigation of the shooting and the victim’s car. The defense theory was that if the defendant shot at the car, he missed, and the victim was fatally shot by someone other than defendant later that night. In support of this view of the evidence, counsel argued the People’s witnesses were not credible, and the police were standing by, if not wholly covering up, a poor investigation. mistaken identity. When the police were asking for leads in the shooting during the twoyear period in which the case went “cold,” the follow-up media coverage focused on the circumstances of the shooting, how the shooting may have stemmed from “lustful glances,” and the devastating impact of the victim’s death on his family (see, e.g., Jotham Sederstrom, Cops seek help in old murder, The Brooklyn Paper 15, May 22, 2004, https://www.brooklynpaper.com/assets/pdf/27_20bp.pdf). 2 Once defendant was arrested and charged with the victim’s death, the news coverage summarized the circumstances of the crime; noted how defendant was charged with murder and manslaughter charges; highlighted how defendant was transferred to Brooklyn from a prison in New Jersey where defendant was serving time for an unrelated conviction; and documented the victim’s mother’s emotional reaction at the arraignment of defendant (see, e.g., Larry Celona, “Jailed Con Nailed in Teen’s ‘03 Belt Parkway Shoot Slay,” NY Post, Sept 16, 2006, https://nypost.com/2006/09/16/jailed-con-nailed-in-teens-03-belt-parkwayshoot-slay/). -4- -5- No. 25