Gets 17-year term in Fourth of July killing in Heights

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The Jersey City Heights man who gunned down a Union City man on the night of July 4, 2005 was sentenced Friday to 17 years in prison, officials said yesterday.

Josue "Bebo" Rodriguez, 26, was sentenced for the killing of Brandon Urbina, 24, of Union City. He had pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter on March 27, said Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Lakomy.

"I think the 17 years is a just sentence," said Lakomy. "I know the family would have wanted more time, and I understand that, but with the facts and circumstances in the case, I think 17 is a very just outcome."

Urbina's mother spoke at the sentencing, which Lakomy said was attended by more than a dozen of his family members who displayed a collage of photographs of him.

Prosecutors say that on the night of the shooting, Urbina and his family had been watching fireworks at Riverside-Fiske Park, off Palisade Avenue, and then walked back to a nearby barbecue.

There was a disturbance in the street involving Rodriguez and another man, possibly about firecrackers, Lakomy said. Urbina got into a confrontation with the men and they left, Lakomy said.

Later, there was a commotion at Bowers Street near Hancock Avenue and Urbina walked down to take a look and that's when Rodriguez, a reputed member of the Latin Kings, shot him, Lakomy said.

A second man was wounded, but he refused to cooperate with police, Lakomy said.

There was some question about whether there may have been two gunmen, but investigators only had evidence that Rodriguez shot Urbina, Lakomy said. The investigation into the injured man's shooting went nowhere, Lakomy said.

Rodriguez disappeared after the shooting, but in August 2006, U.S. marshals officers tracked him down in suburban Burnsville, Minn., where he was with the mother of his children, officials said. He had a new name and a new job with a cleaning company, where he had been named employee of the month.

Rodriguez will not be eligible for parole until after serving 141/2 years and he must serve five years of supervised release after his release, Lakomy said.