Brooklyn, NY – Facing 50 years to life in prison for the ghastly kidnapping and murder of Brooklyn landlord Menachem Stark, suspect Kendel Felix asserts he was only the driver in the failed January 2, 2014 robbery which led to Stark’s death, a claim supported by the lead detective on the case.
The 28-year-old from Brooklyn is charged with snatching Stark from outside his office during a snowstorm and driving the getaway van, according to an article in the New York Daily News.
NYPD Detective Christopher Scarry testified at Felix’s pre-trial hearing today, saying “He (Felix) was quiet, lazy, laid back, a follower, definitely not the mastermind of this.” At issue in the pre-trial hearing is whether Felix’s statements were obtained legally by law enforcement, and whether they can be admitted as evidence at Felix’s trial, scheduled for this August. Detective Scarry stated that Felix’s testimony was lawfully obtained, and that Felix was read his Miranda rights, given food, allowed bathroom access, and was not coerced or threatened.
According to Felix’s April 2014 recorded testimony, as well as his written statements, it was his cousin who orchestrated the robbery and said Stark “has a lot of money and we can get a lot of money.”
Felix alleges he couldn’t have lifted Stark into the van or moved his body into the garbage bin on Long Island because of injuries he sustained years ago in a motorcycle accident.“I was scared s—-less,” Felix said of the robbery and murder. “This was not my thing.”
Felix admits he did carpentry work on one of Stark’s properties, but said he never met him. He also confessed to paying cash for the gasoline used to burn Stark’s body after Stark was killed. His other three co-defendants have not yet been charged.
As reported by Vos Iz Neias