By Rebecca Henely
Otto Herrarte, a 50-year-old Corona man who brutally slit the throats of his wife and 14-year-old son in 2009, was sentenced to 35 years in prison Friday, the Queens district attorney’s office said.
Herrarte, who lives at 111th Street and 39th Avenue in Corona, had pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter last month for a brutal 2009 crime in which he killed his wife, Edna, and son, Daniel, as they lay in bed, wrapped their bodies in plastic and stuffed them in the closet., the DA said. Queens Supreme Court Justice Gregory Lasak imposed the sentence, the DA said.
Despite the heinous act David Herrarte, Otto’s 17-year-old surviving son, said he wanted the best for him, the New York Post reported.
“I forgive you …. You’re my father, and I am your son, although you have failed me, I forgive you,” David Herrarte said, according to the Post. “We are all praying for you and wish you the best.”
David Herrarte was 15 and was not home when his father killed his family, the DA said. Sometime between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, 2009, Herrarte murdered Edna and Daniel Herrarte, cutting their throats so deeply it severed their carotid arteries and trachea, the DA said.
When he was done, he cleaned the knife and placed it back in the kitchen, the DA said. Later he went to the store and bought black plastic bags and duct tape, which he used to wrap up his wife and son and put them in the closet, the DA said.
When the police arrested Otto Herrarte, he blamed the attack on a person inside of him named Roberto, who he said was responsible for everything bad, although he said his true personality had bought the items and put Edna and Daniel Herrarte in the closet, the DA said.
“I was depressed, I was on drugs, I was in a bad place,” was Otto Herrarte’s explanation for the crime at the trial, the Post reported.
Lasak did not accept this excuse, the Post reported.
“My heart goes out to this beautiful family with Christian principles,” Lasak said of the victims’ relatives.
District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement the 35 years was in essence a life sentence for the middle-age man and would spare David Herrarte and Edna Herrarte’s family from having to relive the event through a trial.
“This disposition is a measure of justice for his victims and will protect society from him,” Brown said.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
