MASSACHUSETTS.- Life imprisonment faces a Dominican prosecutor in the Salem Superior Court for the murder of his ex-partner.
The trial against Luis Rodríguez, 30, for the murder of the also Dominican Aracelys Valdez de León, 40, and injuring her boyfriend, Jazmin Patrocino, began this Wednesday and is expected to last two weeks.
The incident occurred on April 16, 2017, in front of the “La Cava” nightclub at the intersection of Methuen and Union Streets in Lawrence.
Rodriguez, a Haverhill resident, was captured on April 21, 2017, in the Sulfur Springs suburb of Texas, where he fled after the crime and was extradited to Massachusetts. He had scratched his head and had tickets to travel to Phoenix, Arizona, and Los Angeles.
Despite the evidence against him, Rodríguez pleaded not guilty and will face trial.
The trial had been delayed due to the closure of the courts in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
De León had gone to the disco with friends one Easter Sunday in 2017. Rodríguez also tried to enter the club, which had an outdoor patio but was denied entry because he had a weapon, after which he waited for Valdez de León and his partner to come out and shoot them.
Valdez de León, who lived in Lowell and was the mother of four children, was shot twice, and Petrocino, her boyfriend, was nine.
A video shows Valdez de León dying on the pavement, surrounded by onlookers.
