A SEX fiend has been found guilty of sexually assaulting and murdering New York jogger Karina Vetrano following a dramatic re-trial.
Chanel Lewis, 22, who confessed to strangling Karina to death and dumping her body in remote parkland in Queens, now faces life in jail.
Footage showed the slain runner’s parents and supporters cheering in court after a jury convicted Lewis of murder and sexual abuse.
Despite that DNA evidence and a taped confession, the first trial ended in a hung jury in November.
Her father, Philip Vetrano, said he felt “jubilation” after the verdict was read aloud in Queens Criminal Court.
“Justice — justice has been served,” the grieving dad said.
Karina was just 30 when she was brutally attacked and killed while on an after-work run on 2 August 2016.
Her battered body was found face-down by her retired firefighter father.
Lewis, from Brooklyn, was arrested nearly six months after the slaying and confessed to killing Vetrano, 30, during a videotaped interrogation by NYPD detectives.
In the confession, Lewis claimed he got angry at Vetrano when she tried to fight him off.
He added that he repeatedly punched her and dragged her into the tall grass near the jogging path.
There, “I finished her off,” Lewis told cops, according to the tape.
Lewis will be sentenced on April 17. He walked out of the courtroom with a blank expression on his face while glancing at the few people who were there to support him.
Earlier in the day, the jurors heard closing arguments as Vetrano’s parents wept and prayed in the courtroom, hoping Lewis would be convicted after his first trial ended with a controversial hung jury in November after only one day of deliberations.
In his closing statement, Queens Assistant District Attorney Brad Leventhal pointed at Lewis and told jurors, “He’s the man who murdered Karina. This defendant is the perpetrator.”
Leventhal showed photos of Vetrano’s lifeless body and reminded jurors that Lewis had confessed on tape before his first trial.
“Justice is served,” he said after the verdict.
Lewis’ Legal Aid lawyer, Robert Moeller, accused investigators of “ignoring the facts” and said they “never once looked at another possibility” after singling out Lewis as a suspect.
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“They came up with a logical explanation and never looked back,” he said.
The Legal Aid Society vowed to appeal the verdict.
“Our client did not receive a fair trial,” the group said in a written statement. “We will appeal immediately to a court that can afford Mr. Lewis the fair review he has thus far been denied.”
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/chanel-lewis-found-guilty-of-murdering-new-york-jogger-karina-vetrano-as-her-parents-cheer-in-court/
News Photo Chanel Lewis found GUILTY of murdering New York jogger Karina Vetrano as her parents cheer in court
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