Conroy Sentenced to 25 Years

Jeffrey Conroy, 19, of Medford received the maximum sentence Wednesday of 25 years imprisonment with two and a half years of post release supervision for the manslaughter of Marcelo Lucero in 2008. Conroy received a total of six sentences which will be served concurrently. Including the previously mentioned Manslaughter he also received Gang Assault, Conspiracy, Assault as a Hate Crime, and two other separate attempted assault charges as a hate crime.

Immediately after the Hon. Robert W. Doyle finished reading off the charges, father Bob Conroy stood up, screamed obscenely that his son was only 17.

"This is mercy for crying out loud," shouted Bob Conroy as he was escorted from the room by officers.

His screams continued in the hallway and were audible from inside the room. A tense atmosphere filled the room as about half of it, likely friends, family, and supporters of Conroy, left in tears and visibly distressed. Following the sentence, Conroy was escorted out of the court room by the officer where he was to be transferred to jail.

Before the sentencing, both Conroy's attorney and Lucero's siblings, Joselo and Isabel, spoke before Hon. Doyle.  

Conroy's attorney brought several letters from parents and friends of Conroy as well as from high school staff. The attorney said the letters held accounts of good actions and testimony from his supporters starting from the age of eleven through seventeen.  In these letters, events were mentioned such as the school district budget failure for the 2005-2006 school year which led to Bob Conroy's creation of the Patchogue-Medford Booster club that raised over $500,000 to fund cancelled athletic programs in order to show Conroy's involvement. One of the letters was written by Conroy's girlfriend, Pamela Suarez, who stated that she herself is hispanic and that Conroy tried to learn spanish from her and desired to be like "one of us."

When Joselo Lucero spoke, he did not express any happy feelings about what was going to happen that day. "I don't want to wish bad for a human, but the details of how my brother died make me angry," said Joselo Lucero. Joselo Lucero said that he shaved his head for his appearance to honor his brother by looking as close to his appearance as possible. After the sentencing during a press junket, Joselo Lucero discussed how he is now working with schools to create diversity education and hopes to create change that will allow immigrants to feel comfortable reporting incidents to the police regardless of their legality.

"Conroy totally changed our lives," said Isabel Lucero through a translator when she spoke after her brother in the court room. "If I said I forgave him, that would not be true," said Isabel Lucero.

The Conroy family left the courthouse surrounded by media, escorted by officers to their car.

Just before delivering the sentence, Hon. Doyle said, "There are no winners in this case.  Marcelo Lucero paid with his life for defending himself.  At the same time, a man of 19 is about to lose his future to a punishment which his parents and family will suffer."