A jury convicted Glen Wilson, of 2465 Tratman Avenue, for the robbery and subsequent killing of Jovanni Vivienes in his apartment at 3363 Sedgwick Avenue on January 14.
Evidence proves Wilson shot Vivienes from the front once in the head, slightly below the right eye. Vivienes was suspected to be kneeling on the floor when the shooting occurred.
While Wilson claimed to be visiting Vivienes for the sole purpose of purchasing drugs, and further stated that the shooting was in self-defense, the jury didn’t buy the claim.
Upon reviewing a videotape from the building’s security camera, the jury watched Vivienes greet Wilson in the lobby before escorting him to his apartment. Approximately 30 minutes later, Wilson, adorned in a hood and white gloves, was seen leaving the building, dragging two safes behind.
From the evidence, the People theorized Wilson went to the apartment with the intention of robbing Vivienes.
Following a thorough investigation of the ransacked apartment, detectives recovered more than five grams of cocaine on a kitchen counter, beneath a cabinet that also held a scale most commonly used to weigh illegal drugs.
Detectives also discovered information that enabled them to detain Wilson near his home the following day. Wilson led the police to the murder weapon, white gloves and more than seven ounces of cocaine, which was hidden in the trunk of his car.
Upon his arrest, Wilson told authorities where to locate the two stolen safes.
The jury found Wilson guilty of murder in the 1st degree, robbery in the 1st degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the 2nd and 3rd degrees; crimes punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gross set sentencing for Tuesday, June 10.
