Landlord Accused of Killing Tenant Pleads Self-Defense

By ALVARO BLANCO & JONATHAN GOMEZ

A Brooklyn landlord took the stand on Tuesday to plead self-defense after being accused of the fatal shooting of one of his tenants.

Phillip Estevez said the tenant, Luis Martinez, in 2012 threatened him, with a screwdriver, and that he called the police, facts that were later challenged by the prosecution.

“I will break your face ’cause you’re an old man,” was one of the threats Estevez said he received from Martinez.

Estevez said the day of the incident, when he attempted to evict the tenants for not paying their rent. Martinez had arrived at the apartment of another tenant, Anna Rodriguez, the mother of two children, Eliana Espinal and Elian Espinal.

“He was holding something in his jacket pocket and I saw what looked like the butt of a gun in his left hand and then a pipe in his other hand,” testified Estevez.

According to Estevez, Martinez and Rodriguez attacked him for over two hours, with shots being fired from the gun as he struggled for his life. Eventually, Estevez called the police, but not before Rodriguez and her kids attacked him.

The prosecution also challenged the claim that the victim owed the defendant rent.

A forensic scientist from the Office of Chief Medical Examiners, Troy Holder, testified earlier that the DNA on the murder weapon belonged to Estevez.

“I’d like to see him get life, because Luis wasn’t a bad person,”said another witness, Carmen Rodriguez, Luis’ baby’s mother, of  Estevez.”He was a good hardworking honest man.”

However, prosecutors still have difficulty in proving whether the DNA was there originally or transferred after the gun had been fired.

Estevez was arrested March 10, 2013. The story as reported then is slightly different from the defendant’s story.

The incident occurred around 11 a.m. in the morning in East New York. Phillip Estevez attempted to evict Luis Martinez and Anna Rodriguez for not paying their rent. Phillip Estevez was reported to have become violent and attempted to use force on Anna Rodriguez. Martinez went to her defense and was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the head.

The landlord’s gun reportedly jammed before he could fire on Anna Rodriguez, although the landlord claims the gun fell apart during his struggle with Martinez and that he never pointed the gun at anyone.