A Bronx man was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in state prison in the fatal stabbing of a 45-year-old man in Yonkers last year.
Prosecutors said Francisco Vasquez, 38, stabbed Rodney Jackson in the buttocks on April 08, 2012, after an argument at a South Broadway bodega, where Vasquez worked.
Jackson died a day later. The incident began when Jackson walked into the bodega around 11:00 p.m. to buy a soda, and got into a dispute with the bodega’s owner, Kervin Ortiz, 54, of the Bronx.
Vasquez was sentenced by Westchester County Judge Richard A. Molea in White Plains.
Ortiz initially ordered Jackson out of the store the night of the argument, prompting Jackson to challenge him to a fight, prosecutors said. Jackson left but came back in a fury, prosecutors said, throwing items around the store. Moments later, Ortiz picked up a metal baseball bat and attacked Jackson, beating him until the bat was bloodied, according to court papers.
Vasquez told police he then grabbed a knife and rushed to Ortiz’ aid, acknowledging that he cut Jackson once, but denying that it was on purpose. Vasquez said he then fled, “because he was scared,” according to court papers.
Friends of Jackson rushed to the scene and called police, who arrived to find Ortiz and the injured Jackson, who was then taken to St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Yonkers, where he died.
Ortiz and Vasquez were arrested on April 10, 2012, after police conducted an investigation and looked at videotape of the incident.
Vasquez pleaded guilty February 19, 2013, to two felony counts of manslaughter and one of criminal possession of a weapon, all felonies.
Ortiz previously pleaded guilty to attempted assault, a felony, and was sentenced earlier this month to shock probation.
