KEW GARDENS — A 37-year-old Elmhurst truck driver was sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison for savagely beating and stabbing two brothers who lived in an apartment above him as part of an alleged plot to boot them from their rent-controlled dwellin
During his trial, David Robles of 40-12 Ithaca St. said his landlord paid him and his alleged accomplice, roommate Danny Machuca, 29, to attack the brothers who shared a $400-a-month, three-bedroom apartment, Brown said in a statement.
The brothers, William Lavery, 35, and David Lavery, 40, survived the March 4, 2003 attack but required surgery for their disfiguring injuries, Brown said.
Robles was convicted of attempted murder, burglary, conspiracy and assault during a jury trial last month in Queens Supreme Court in Kew Gardens. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison by Justice Evelyn Braun on Monday, Brown said.
Machuca pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was slated to be sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice James Griffin on Aug. 25.
The landlord, 49-year-old Juan Basagoitia, faces charges of attempted murder, conspiracy, burglary and assault and was scheduled to return to Queens Supreme Court July 28, Brown said.
