MASSACHUSETTS, United States – A superior court sentenced a convicted murderer to life in prison for the murder of a Dominican student in the suburb of Malden.
Yahia Mastouri, a convicted killer, was sentenced for the shooting death of Dominican student Jeury Batista on March 2, 2019 on a street behind a housing project near Malden High School.
Prosecutors said that Batista, who was studying at North Shore Community College, went to the crime scene with his girlfriend to buy marijuana from the killer, but according to the police, the transaction failed, so the convicted killer shot the student.
The killer was accompanied by his accomplice Josué L. Espada, who was also found guilty of complicity in Batista’s death.
After murdering Batista, Mastouri fled from Massachusetts to California and was captured in Los Angeles, from where he was extradited to his home state.
BATISTA HAD GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL Batista had graduated from Salem High School and then enrolled in community college.
Mastouri, 21, was convicted of second degree murder, assault and assault with a dangerous weapon, firearm charges, and conspiracy to violate drug laws.
Espada, 22, also from Malden, was found guilty of being an accomplice in the matter and conspiracy to violate drug laws. Both will be sentenced on January 6 at the Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn County.
Prosecutors argued that Batista had gone to Malden with his girlfriend at that time, a woman identified as Danielle Lauritzen, to buy marijuana from some of Lauritzen’s acquaintances from high school, but instead they were tricked into being robbed behind the housing project near Malden Catholic High School.
The lawyers for Mastouri and Espada tried to convince the jury that it was Batista who was planning to rob their clients, an argument that the jurors rejected at the end of the 20-day trial.
