Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that married couple Arturo Cuevas and Daisy Barrera have been sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder for the stabbing and baseball bat attack of their neighbor, a 28-year-old man, in March 2023. The assault stemmed from a previous dispute between the couple and the victim over a parking spot in the neighborhood.
District Attorney Katz said: “This was a near deadly attack over a parking spot. The defendants became irate to the point that they senselessly stabbed and beat a man with a metal baseball bat. The vicious assault – caught on video by another neighbor – shocked the city. Just before the start of the couple’s trial, the defendants pleaded guilty to attempted murder.”
Cuevas, 32, and Barrera, 28, of 48th Street in Sunnyside, pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the second degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Mary L. Bejarano on January 7, 2025. Today, Justice Bejarano sentenced the pair to 14 years in prison.
DA Katz said that according to the charges, on March 17, 2023, at approximately 3:40 p.m., defendants Cuevas and Barrera, were present when victim Wilson Chabla Lliguicota, 28, arrived at his residence and parked his car. The defendants, who are married, lived around the block from the victim and had a dispute with him over a parking space 11 months earlier.
Both defendants — armed with weapons — approached the victim and attacked him. Cuevas stabbed Lliguicota in the body multiple times with a folding knife. Barrera, armed with a metal bat, struck the victim in the head repeatedly. After the victim was knocked to the ground, the pair continued the onslaught with Cuevas stomping on the man and Barrera hitting him in the head again with the bat.
The victim’s girlfriend, 22-year-old Delia Chimbay, saw her partner in distress from their apartment window and came outside to intervene. Barrera struck the woman in the arm with the bat and resumed her attack on Lliguicota as Cuevas continued to hit the victim.
The altercation ended only when police showed up and Cuevas and Barrera retreated to their apartment but were arrested following a 20-minute standoff.
Both victims required medical treatment for their injuries. Lliguicota required surgery for severe brain trauma, removal of part of his skull and the inducement of a medical coma to manage his extended care and rehabilitation needs.
Lliguicota previously worked as a truck driver for a major retailer. He is unable to operate heavy machinery due to the injuries he suffered and is not able to return to work.
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