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Astoria immigrant’s killer sentenced

By Nathan Duke

Ricardo Garcia-Villegas, 53, of 2319 Hughes Ave. in the Bronx, was convicted of murder, criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with evidence in the fatal stabbing of Armando Perez, who lived at 12-12 31st Ave. in Astoria, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.The DA said the victim was unarmed.”[The defendant's] actions will now result in his serving what will probably be the rest of his life behind bars,” Brown said.Queens Supreme Court Justice Darrell Gavrin, who presided over the one-week jury trial, will sentence Garcia-Villegas on March 24, the DA said. The defendant faces up to 25 years to life in prison, he said.According to trial testimony, the defendant attended a party on Jan. 8, 2006, in the apartment building in which Perez lived, Brown said. Garcia-Villegas spent the night in a basement apartment that was rented by his nephew, son-in-law and several other people, including Perez, Brown said.The victim called police on the day after the party to complain that someone had broken his bedroom door, the DA said. No arrests were made, but police notified the building's landlord that the basement unit was an illegal, single-room occupancy and that the tenants must vacate the premises, the DA said.After police left, Luis Picazza, Garcia-Villegas' nephew, saw the defendant leave Perez's bedroom with a bloody kitchen knife in his hand, Brown said. Picazza also noticed Perez lying on his bed with blood on his chest, the DA said.Garcia-Villegas closed the bedroom door, wiped the doorknob and placed a chair in front of it, telling his nephew, “That's what [Perez] gets for calling the police,” Brown said. The killer then washed the knife and left the apartment, the DA said.Picazza described what had happened to his employer, who then called the police, Brown said.In a Jan. 11 statement in his criminal complaint, Garcia-Villegas had said, “the victim came at me with a knife – we both struggled for the knife, I threw him on the bed, grabbed his hands and I pushed his hand that was carrying the weapon and it stayed stuck.”Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.