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Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
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 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.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Yahoo
Wade in the waters: Readers send in their photos of rivers
Rivers are the subjects of the latest Readers Photo Challenge. Rivers can be great photographic subjects. You can use them as a compositional element to draw the viewers eyes into the scene. A slow moving river can reflect the landscape around it. And rivers can be habitats for animals, which makes them great for wildlife photography. Not many people decided to dip their toes into the waters for this task, but those who decided to get their feet wet sent in some great images. Five readers sent in 11 photos. Here are the top picks. Tom LaBounty of Stockton gets first place with his photo of the Washington Monument near the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. You might say that the basin is more of a lagoon than a river but it is connected to the Potomac River to the north and the Anacostia River via the Washington Channel to the south. Using an Olympus Olympus OM-1 Mk II 3/4ths DSLR camera, LaBounty framed the monument with a blossoming cherry tree in the foreground. A row of flowering trees and the waters of the basin complete the framing at the bottom. The obelisk-shape of the monument stands at the center of the frame, resolute against an amorphously cloudy sky. Mary Nakamura of Stockton went to great heights to get her river photo, literally. While a trip with friends she crossed the Royal Gorge Suspension Bridge near Cañon City, Colorado. With her Apple iPhone 16 she photographed the Arkansas River, which was a dizzying 959 feet below her own feet. The distance made the river, the country's sixth longest, look like a small stream. The eroded and weathered walls of the craggy canyon provided a wonderful texture to the entire scene. Joseph Hey of Stockton photographed a sunrise on the San Joaquin River from Twitchell Island near Rio Vista. With a Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphone he photographed the rising sun and its orange glow breaking just over the horizon. A levee snakes its way into the frame at the middle of the frame. To the right flows the mighty San Joaquin. To the right, tule fog fills the low-lying island. As you visually make your way upwards into the frame, the warm glow of the sunrise gradually gives way to blue sky with morning clouds and contrails criss-crossing the heavens. Peter Corsun of Stockton shot during the opposite time of day. With an Apple iPhone 11 he photographed the setting sun as it sinks low near the horizon at Buckley Cove in Stockton. The sun's warm color is fills a portion of the sky and is reflected in the waters of the Stockton deep water channel. For first LaBounty receives a 16 x 20 print from UlmerPhoto and a gift card to a local restaurant. Second goes to Nakamura with an 11x 14 print and Hey gets an 8x10 print for third place. All of the entries can be seen in an online gallery at A new challenge will be issued on Apr. 15. This article originally appeared on The Record: Wade in the waters: Readers send in their photos of rivers
