A Roosevelt man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for severely beating a man outside of a Hempstead restaurant in 2022, who later died from his injuries.
On April 21, 2022, at approximately 11 p.m., Dennis Ray and co-defendant Tyrell Guthrie, during the course of a robbery, brutally beat Jose Osma in the rear of a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant at 162 Fulton Avenue in Hempstead.
The 59-year-old victim was discovered by a passerby at approximately 6:30 a.m. the following morning. Osma, who lived in Copiague, had no identification or personal property on him, and was brought to the hospital in an unconscious state with numerous skull and orbital fractures.
Osma’s family filed a missing person’s report in Suffolk County, and he was eventually discovered on April 24, 2022, at NYU Langone Hospital – Long Island where he was listed as a “John Doe.”
Guthrie was arrested near the scene by members of the Nassau County Police Department with the victim’s blood on his clothing. Guthrie was also holding a jacket stained with the victim’s blood which Ray was wearing on the night of the attack.
Ray was arrested on May 7, 2022 by members of the NCPD.
Osma slipped in and out of a coma several times after the assault and underwent five separate brain surgeries. Ultimately, he succumbed to his injuries on April 30, 2023, approximately a year after the attack.
Guthrie pleaded guilty to Manslaughter in the First Degree (a Class B violent felony) on November 9, 2023. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison on January 29, 2024.
Ray, a/k/a Midnight, 64, was convicted on April 7, 2026, after a jury trial before Judge Tammy Robbins, of Murder in the Second Degree (a Class A-I felony); Assault in the First Degree (a Class B violent felony); Robbery in the First Degree (a Class B violent felony); and Robbery in the Second Degree (a Class C violent felony).
He was sentenced on May 20 to 25 years to life in prison.
“Dennis Ray has never taken responsibility or shown any regret for the vicious beating he inflicted upon Jose Osma four years ago over a wallet and a cellphone. Jose’s children watched in anguish as their father suffered through a coma, paralysis, and multiple brain surgeries, unable to speak or feed himself until he finally died from his injuries,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “Today they bravely faced their father’s killer in court before he was led out in handcuffs to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Their suffering does not end with this sentence, but I hope that they can now begin to heal knowing their father’s murderer is exactly where he belongs.”