A Briarwood man was sentenced to 19 years in prison Tuesday in the fatal stabbing of his son-in-law in 2019.
Marco Ortiz, 48, of 139th Street, pleaded guilty last month before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder as his jury was in the first day of deliberations following a two-week-long trial, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Ortiz admitted his guilt after the jury sat through two weeks of testimony.
According to trial testimony, during the evening of Jan. 24, Ortiz and his daughter’s husband Travis Ford got into a verbal altercation over his drinking habits inside the home they all shared in Briarwood. Ortiz’s daughter was not home because she was in the hospital after delivering the couple’s second child.
The argument escalated and grew physically violent when Ortiz drew a knife and slashed the 31-year-old victim in the face and then stabbed Ford once in the stomach.
EMS responded to the crime scene and Ford was transported to Jamaica Hospital, where he later succumbed to his abdominal wound.
“This was a senseless killing that began as a family dispute and erupted into bloodshed,” Katz said. “A woman lost her husband, the father of her children. And now, her father has been sentenced to prison time for this horrific crime.”
Justice Holder sentenced Ortiz to 19 years in prison, to be followed by five years’ post-release supervision.
