By Christina Santucci
A second Manhattan man was convicted in the 2011 fatal shooting of Queensbridge native and high school hoops star Tayshana “Chicken” Murphy, the Manhattan district attorney said Tuesday.
A state Supreme Court jury found Robert Cartagena guilty of second-degree murder, first-degree burglary and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, DA Cyrus Vance Jr. said.
Cartagena, 22, is expected to be sentenced April 28, according to the DA.
In June, 24-year-old Tyshawn “Ta Ta” Brockington was found guilty in 18-year-old Murphy’s murder and later sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison, the DA said.
“Tayshana Murphy was only 18 years old and dreamed of playing professional basketball when she was shot to death by Robert Cartagena and Tyshawn Brockington,” Vance said in a statement. “We have seen too many innocent victims lose their lives — and too many families grieving loved ones — because of senseless feuds between young people who wreak havoc in their neighborhoods.”
Cartagena and Brockington, both of the Manhattanville Houses in Harlem, were involved in a fight with rivals from the Grant Houses Sept. 10, 2011, the night before the shooting, the DA said.
At about 4 a.m. the next morning, the pair headed over to the Grant Houses, where a group of teenagers, including Murphy, were standing outside. The group ran inside the building, where Murphy was shot three times in the building’s fourth-floor hallway, the DA said.
Cartagena and Brockington later fled to South Carolina, where they were apprehended 10 days later and brought back to New York to face murder charges, according to Vance.
Murphy, a Murry Bergtraum basketball standout, had moved with her family to Manhattan from the Queensbridge Houses several years before she was killed.
