By Adam Pincus
A conversation allegedly spoken in 1997 to an old neighborhood friend later convicted on federal drug charges were used by law enforcement to tie Nelson Diaz, 34, to the murder of teenager Juan Cabrera on a Corona street in 1989, prosecutors said.The prosecution said Diaz, who was charged in August 2004 with the 1989 stabbing death of Cabrera, allegedly told an acquaintance at an airport in 1997 that he was the killer of the teen.The defense challenged that account, questioning the credibility of the man, Pedro Pe–a, who is currently facing 30 years in federal prison on drug and murder charges. Defense attorney Michael Schwed said Pe–a wanted to reduce his time in prison in exchange for testimony at a Diaz trial.Diaz is currently free on $250,000 bail, a spokesman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.The event that led to Diaz's trial occurred June 12, 1989, at about 6 p.m., police said, opposite 101-01 37th Ave. in Corona. Cabrera was with two friends -all three teenagers – on their way home from school when he was approached by an 18-year-old Diaz and four or five other young men, police said. The two groups exchanged words, and the larger group began punching Cabrera , then robbed him, police said. Finally they stabbed him multiple times, investigators said, leading to his death. In his opening statement at the trial, Assistant District Attorney Peter Lomp described the attack as a gang assault, allegedly made by a man who wanted Cabrera dead.”I submit (Diaz) was the leader,” of the attack, Lomp said, explaining the severity of the knife wounds in detail.”I specify the injuries because I think (this case) deals with one primary issue. That Diaz was involved, and that person wanted him dead,” Lomp said.He said that Pe–a and Diaz, who grew up together, ran into one another in a Miami airport in 1997, where Diaz allegedly admitted to his old acquaintance that he was the one who stabbed Cabrera. Diaz felt bad because another of the young men at the stabbing in 1989 was convicted of the crime, Lomp said.Diaz's lawyer, Schwed, in his opening statemen questioned the ability of witnesses who would be called later to remember faces and events from 16 years before. He also questioned Pe–a's motivation.”Pedro Pe–a is arrested in 1999 in a huge narcotics conspiracy,” he said, and was facing life in prison when in 2002 he was indicted again, this time for a 1997 murder in Miami.If Pe–a testifies in the Diaz trial, Schwed said, law enforcement officials would intervene with the parole board to get him out earlier. “He wants to trade places with Nelson Diaz,” a man out of prison, the attorney said.Reach reporter Adam Pincus by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
