Guilty of diner killing, shooter gets life

A Common Pleas judge yesterday convicted a 22-year-old Kensington man of first-degree murder for fatally shooting a man inside the Aramingo Diner in Port Richmond two years ago.

Judge Jeffrey Minehart rendered his verdict against Hector Maldonado after closing arguments in the nonjury trial.

Maldonado, of Ontario Street near A, showed little emotion.

The judge later sentenced him to life in prison without parole instead of death.

Shortly after 6 a.m. July 29, 2006, Maldonado, then 20, approached Cesar Reyes, 33, in the diner on Aramingo Avenue near Ontario Street. After exchanging words, Maldonado pulled a .40-caliber semiautomatic, placed the barrel on the back of Reyes' neck and fired.

Gladys Villalobos, Reyes' then-girlfriend and the mother of Reyes' now-3-year-old son, Christian, testified during the trial that Reyes, who was standing by her booth, fell onto a nearby counter stool, then crashed to the floor.

After the sentencing, she said she was glad it was over. She said she didn't want Maldonado to get the death penalty. "I want him to live long enough" to understand what he did, said Villalobos, 33.

Ana Cintron, 26, one of Reyes' eight siblings, said that the verdict "brought closure to the family at least a little bit, especially for my mom," Maria Reyes.

Reyes, a father of four, had owned the Top Dog's barber shop and the Ambicion Cafe in Kensington near where he lived.

After the judge imposed sentence, Maldonado's sister, Nasha Maldonado, 24, gasped aloud and sobbed. Maldonado, who looked complacent and smiled slightly, was asked if he had anything to say. He stood, paused, shook his head, then said: "Sorry about what happened, your Honor," without sounding remorseful.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Barry said in his closing argument yesterday that Maldonado intended to kill Reyes because Maldonado felt disrespected by Reyes during an incident at the diner two weeks before.

During that earlier incident, according to testimony by Tarra Stainer, then a diner waitress, Maldonado and his male friends got into an argument with a group of women at another table. Someone in Maldonado's group then threw an A.1. Steak Sauce bottle at the women.

The women retaliated by throwing the bottle back, but instead hit a woman with whom Reyes was sitting at a third table. Reyes then scolded Maldonado's group and the women, and threw a glass that hit one of the women in the face.

Maldonado and Reyes did not know each other, witnesses said.

Defense attorney Daniel Rendine said in his closing argument that Maldonado was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, which "prevented him from forming a specific intent to kill."

He argued that this wasn't a case of first-degree murder. He also contended that if Maldonado intended to kill Reyes, he wouldn't have done so in a diner filled with people he knew.

Prosecutor Barry, however, countered that Maldonado shot Reyes "in front of the entire diner because he was proud of what he did. . . . In some circles, toughness is revered."

The judge also convicted Maldonado of possession of an instrument of crime and sentenced him to a concurrent 2 1/2 to 5 years. *