Jury convicts Rodriguez in Hazleton fatal shooting
Jun. 12—WILKES-BARRE — A Luzerne County jury Thursday convicted Jafet De Jesus Rodriguez of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Ashokkumar Patel inside Craig's Food Mart in Hazleton more than four years ago.
Rodriguez, 44, faces life in prison without parole when he is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Michael T. Vough on July 24.
The jury deliberated for nearly four hours before reaching their verdict just before 4 p.m.
"This was a team effort for more than four and a half years to bring this man to justice," said specially assigned Assistant District Attorney Drew McLaughlin.
Detectives with Hazleton City Police and the district attorney's office charged Rodriguez with shooting Patel inside the food mart just after 9 p.m. on Dec. 12, 2020. Patel was mopping the floor when a masked gunman wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, a face mask and gloves rushed inside with a firearm, shoved Patel into a closet where he was shot in the neck.
Immediately after shooting Patel, the gunman ran behind the counter where he stole a bank bag used to pay out winnings of skill chance machines.
During the four day trial, McLaughlin and Assistant District Attorney Gerry Scott relied heavily on global positioning mapping from data extracted from Rodriguez's Apple iPhone 11. Rodriguez provided his phone to detectives during an unrelated drug investigation.
The GPS coordinates of Rodriguez's cell phone placed him at the food mart playing skill chance machines from 8:09 to 8:45 p.m. on Dec. 12, 2020. Rodriguez drove to his residence on East Cranberry Drive, returning to the store to fatally shoot Patel at 9:07 p.m., McLaughlin and Scott said.
Using GPS coordinates of Rodriguez's cell phone, detectives located several surveillance videos that matched the location and Rodriguez's travels before and after Patel was shot, including finding the sweatshirt, gloves and mask hidden in a stove at a garage on East Diamond Avenue where Rodriguez operated a car wash and an auto-detailing business.
Rodriguez's attorneys, Michael A. Sklarosky, Joseph F. Sklarosky Sr. and Michael O. Palermo Jr., suggested another man, Angel Luis Rivera, was likely the killer because Rivera was in financial trouble and had access to a firearm.
Michael Sklarosky strongly advocated that the red sweatshirt, gloves and face mask did not contain Rodriguez's DNA and the footage from inside the food mart did not provide identifying factors such as the gender and race of the gunman.
"The case was four and a half years in the making going back to December 2020, and what you see, the case we presented this week, we've had more evidence than I've ever had in a case. We had GPS, DNA, gunshot residue, all kinds of forensic evidence. We've had surveillance video...people don't realize the painstaking work it takes and it starts crunching search warrants.
"Having a case without an eyewitness to say this is our shooter, we have to piece it together and present a compelling case to the jury which we did," McLaughlin said.
Patel was working at the food mart, McLaughlin and Scott said, to earn money to send to his family in India.
McLaughlin said Patel's family will likely participate via video when Rodriguez is sentenced.
Rodriguez was familiar with the food mart having a gambling addiction playing skill chance machines and was aware, McLaughlin and Scott argued, where the bank bag was kept inside the store.
Reach Ed Lewis at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TLEdLewis.
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