Morrison
GOSHEN – A Newburgh man, who recruited two other men to rob a man in his Chambers Street, Newburgh home, was sentenced by Orange County Court Judge William DeProspo on Wednesday to 27 2/3 years to life in state prison on his murder conviction.
Omarrio Morrison, 26, was convicted of murder, attempted robbery, criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of tampering with physical evidence in the death of Raul Diaz-Martinez, 63, on June 21, 2017.
During the trial prosecutors argued Morrison had planned a robbery of Diaz-Martinez while he was in his apartment. Prosecutors also argued that Morrison recruited Dejoire Fox, 21, and Tyrees Canigan, 17, to commit the actual robbery and had supplied each with pistols.
Both Fox and Canigan previously pled guilty to murder. Prosecutors argued that Fox entered the victim’s apartment to commit the robbery while being armed with a pistol and shot the victim, who later died of a gunshot wound. Canigan was the lookout for the robbery.
Morrison was sentenced to 25 years to life on the murder charge and concurrent sentences of 15 years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision for the charge of attempted robbery and for each of two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Morrison was sentenced to one-and-one-third to four years in state prison on each of two counts of tampering with physical evidence, and those sentences were ordered to run consecutively to each other and the sentence on the murder charge.
“The sentence reflects the reality that killing a person during the commission of a felony is just as reprehensible and can be punished as severely as committing an intentional murder,” said District Attorney David Hoovler.
