Murder Defendant Takes Stand to Deny Guilt

By SIGOURNEY SEALEY & CONOR FEBOS

The Brooklyn man accused of murdering a Pace University student during a drug deal that went awry, told the jury Tuesday that his co-defendant was solely responsible for the slaying.

Raymond Rizzo, 33, was arraigned on murder in the second degree in the killing of Max Moreno though the Manhattan DA stipulated that Rizzo did not fire the gun that killed the 21-year-old victim in his Gold Street apartment in September, 2010.

In an unusual defense tactic Rizzo took the stand in his own defense and said that he thought that he and his companion Randy Colon, also 33, were merely there to buy pot.

“It (the shooting) shocked the heck out of me,” said Rizzo with an air of confidence. “I had never seen anything like that before and was not expecting anything like that to happen.”

Rizzo, however, air jordan spizike also testified that Colon pulled out a gun after the two mistakenly exited an elevator on the 36^th floor, a level below Moreno’s apartment.

“I had no idea he had it [gun] on him,” said Rizzo. “We were just standing there and all of a sudden he was like, ‘you know what this is.’”

Rizzo, a father of two, insisted in his testimony that he regretted not disarming Colon, but was scared for his own life.

“I wasn’t sure of what to do, I didn’t know what was going to happen, “ said Rizzo.

The unemployed defendant, who had an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Brooklyn for aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle at the time of the murder, spoke after two DNA experts examined a piece of a latex glove that was allegedly worn by Colon in the apartment.

Craig O’Connor, a forensic science professor at NYU Medical Center, testified during a DNA profile of Colon that nothing connected Rizzo to the shooting itself.

After Colon allegedly shot the marijuana dealer, Rizzo ceased talking to the man he’d known for years, but told the jury that he allowed him in his truck following the shooting.

“I didn’t want anything to do with him, but I didn’t know what else to do,” said Rizzo.

Prosecutors said Colon shot Moreno after the two engaged in a physical altercation over the selling of marijuana.

Colon awaits a separate trial for his connection to the murder

Photo: slain student Max Moreno & friends