1 of 3 Staine Brothers Found Guilty of Manslaughter

Phil Staine

It was a busy day in court…Brothers, forty-one-year-old Orlando and thirty-seven-year-old Kareem Staine were found not guilty of the murder of twenty-three-year-old B.D.F. volunteer soldier Denver Villafranco.  The ruling was delivered by Supreme Court Justice Adolph Lucas in a trial without a jury. A third brother, forty-six-year-old Phil Staine, did not share the same luck; he was found guilty of manslaughter.  He will hear his sentencing on November fourteenth. Villafranco was attacked as he attempted to diffuse a fight on January seventeen 2015. He was viciously stabbed by a group of men and slashed to the right side of his abdomen with a four-inch knife. The prosecution’s main witness Rolando Ayala testified that he saw when Phil stabbed Villafranco. During the trial, Pathologist Doctor Hugh Sanchez who performed the autopsy testified that based on the evidence, the force used to injure Villafranco was moderate to massive. As such Justice Lucas agreed with the outcome most favorable to Phil and found him guilty of manslaughter.  Phil was represented by Attorney Bryan Neal.