DRUG DEALER GUILTY IN BRUTAL "EXECUTION" MURDER

Rochester Jury Finds Bronx Man Deliberately Killed 17-Year-Old

(April 5, 2002) -- A drug dealer intentionally killed a teenager by
shooting him twice in a driveway in northeast Rochester, a jury decided
Thursday.

Witnesses had testified that Wilfredo Laracuente walked up behind
17-year-old Cliff Frazier, pulled a gun and shot him in the head. After
Frazier crumpled to the ground, Laracuente stood over him and fired a
second shot into his chest.

Monroe County Court jurors convicted Laracuente of second-degree murder in
the death of Frazier, who was gunned down at 43 Sixth St. in northeast
Rochester on Aug. 19, 2000.

Jurors deliberated less than three hours before rejecting Laracuente's
claim of self-defense. Laracuente, 26, claimed he took away Frazier's
revolver after Frazier threatened him with it, then fired when Frazier
pulled a utility knife and demanded the return of his gun.

Prosecutors, however, said Laracuente believed Frazier stole cocaine that
Laracuente was peddling outside the house.

Assistant District Attorney Stephen Sercu praised several witnesses who
told police what they saw. "If more people like them were willing to come
forward, we'd have fewer homicides," he said.

Laracuente will be sentenced April 26. Judge Patricia D. Marks could impose
a prison term ranging from a minimum of 15 years to life to a maximum of 25
years to life.

Laracuente, a resident of the Bronx who admitted that he was visiting
Rochester to sell cocaine in the summer of 2000, was arrested in the Bronx
11 months after the slaying.

During the trial, witnesses testified that Laracuente walked up behind
Frazier and shot Frazier once in the head before standing over him and
firing a second shot into his chest.

As he took the stand in his defense, however, Laracuente said he was
inspecting a potato chip bag where he kept his cocaine stash when Frazier
came up behind him and reached for a pistol in his waistband.

Laracuente said he disarmed Frazier but was forced to shoot him when
Frazier threatened to kill him with a utility knife if Laracuente didn't
surrender the gun.

Laracuente said he was frightened because Frazier had held the gun to his
chest a week or two earlier. He insisted, however, that he shot Frazier
only once and said he was only trying to scare Frazier, not kill him.

In his summation to jurors, defense lawyer Clark J. Zimmermann Jr. said he
believed Frazier's second wound was inflicted by another gunman who was
being protected by witnesses.

He also said Laracuente had to shoot Frazier to save himself.

"Had Mr. Laracuente not gotten that gun away, I submit to you that Mr.
Frazier would be on trial and Mr. Laracuente would be the victim in this
case," Zimmermann said.

But Sercu said Laracuente's claim of self-defense was a pathetic effort to
explain away his actions.

"This was an execution," Sercu said. "Plain and simple, Mr. Laracuente
executed Mr. Frazier.

"Mr. Laracuente's rendition of the facts is like a desolate island in the
midst of an ocean."