Jailed For College Point Slaying
A Corona man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of his former girlfriend in August 2008, it was announced.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the defendant as Segundo Penafiel, 28, of Roosevelt Avenue in Corona. Penafiel pleaded guilty earlier this month to first-degree manslaughter before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard L. Buchter, who imposed last Tuesday, Feb. 14, the determinate sentence of 24 years in prison.
“[Penafiel’s] admission of guilt and the lengthy prison sentence imposed by the court brings closure to the family of the victim and protects the residents of Queens County from a violent predator,” Brown said in a statement.
In pleading guilty, Penafiel admitted that he fatally stabbed his former girlfriend, 22-year-old Ebony Garcia, inside her College Point apartment during the early morning hours of Aug. 23, 2008. The victim had been stabbed multiple times about the head, neck and arms.
Penafiel was arrested the following week in Texas as he attempted to flee the country.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Debra Lynn Pomodore of the District Attorney’s Homicide Trials Bureau, prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Brad A. Leventhal, bureau chief, and Jack Warsawsky, deputy bureau chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.
