A New York man is going to prison for his role in a nearly 20-minute beating on Christmas morning in 2023, which resulted in a man’s death.
Guy Mustgray II, 34, received a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the death of Michael DiCesare. Mustgray is the second defendant to be sentenced for DiCesare’s death. Brucewayne Beamon pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in December and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, according to the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office.
Prosecutors said Rochester police officers responded to the corner of Bay Street and Portland Avenue on December 25, 2023, and discovered DiCesare, 50, with serious injuries. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital, but he died on February 4, 2024. A subsequent investigation revealed that Beamon and Mustgray robbed him and then beat him for approximately 18 minutes.
Assistant District Attorney Aliyah Fowler described the beating, which was captured on video, to local ABC affiliate WHAM.
“The 18 minutes kind of consisted of both defendants coming into contact with Michael that morning,” Fowler admitted. “It began with fists, and then the box cutter, which was mentioned in court, was used, slashing his face and stomping on him.
They left, came back, left and returned, and so on for 18 minutes, until a trash can was dumped over his body while he was bleeding out on the sidewalk on Christmas morning.”
Julie Arellano, DiCesare’s sister, wrote to the judge before his sentencing about the callousness of the beating and the aftermath. WHAM circulated a copy of the letter.
“Mustgray left Mike, lifeless, under a pile of trash on the side of a freezing cold street on Christmas morning and did nothing to help him,” she said in an email. “This mental picture will haunt my thoughts for the rest of my life.”
The victim’s family couldn’t reach him, so instead of celebrating Christmas, they spent the day searching for him. Two days later, they discovered that he was listed as a “John Doe” in the neurointensive care unit.
Arellano described her four-year-old elder brother as “funny, lighthearted, giving, enthusiastic, and caring.” He was a professional chef who owned restaurants, she stated.
For his family, nothing will ever be the same.
“The holiday season, which was once a time of joy for us through our entire lives, is now marked by grief, the memory of the shock of what Mike endured, imagining his pain and fear, this has left us all sick to our stomachs and in complete heartbreak,” wrote Arellano in a letter. “We are left with haunting images of the brutal way in which he was taken from us.”