Lynn trio pleads guilty in tuxedo beating death

Item Staff ReportBOSTON – Three Lynn men pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2009 beating death of Jose “Danny” Alicea, according to a press release from Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.Justin Cooke, 27, Jonathan Fernandez, 25, and Ruskyn Garcia, 26, were sentenced to state prison terms Tuesday in Suffolk Superior Court for their roles in the Aug. 21, 2009 beating of Alicea near Club 33 on Stanhope Street. Alicea died of his injuries three days later.Cooke, who pleaded guilty Tuesday, was sentenced to four years in state prison and one year’s probation upon his release. Fernandez, who pleaded guilty Friday, was sentenced to three years in prison plus six months in the House of Corrections, suspended for six months, upon his release from MCI-Cedar Junction. Garcia, who pleaded guilty Monday, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half to eight years in state prison, according to the press release.Prosecutors dismissed murder charges against a fourth man, Michael Welch, 28, of Lynn, for legal, ethical and strategic reasons after a review of the evidence admissible at trial. Welch pleaded guilty to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a surviving victim and received a two-and-a-half year state prison term.They were the last defendants facing homicide charges in connection with the victim’s slaying.”Thirteen defendants were charged and thirteen defendants were held accountable,” Conley said.Prior to Tuesday’s sentencing, Alicea’s brother decried the mob who chased down a hardworking father over nothing more than an exchange of words outside a bar, then beat him so severely that he died.”All these adults involved, but there wasn’t one man,” Angel Ortiz said. “There wasn’t one man who could be a peacemaker for 30 seconds.”Ortiz said Tuesday was Alicea’s son’s second birthday – an anniversary made poignant by the fact that he was in court presenting an impact statement on behalf of the infant’s slain father.”My brother and I could be celebrating his son’s second birthday, but instead I’m here,” he said.Conley praised the Boston police and his prosecutors who handled the case.”We reached this result because Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors gave this case everything they had,” he said in the press release. “There was no room for distraction or misdirection.”Conley also said David Sok Ek, 25, was being held on $20,000 cash bail following his arrest this weekend with two unlicensed firearms, one of them loaded.David Ek is the brother of Daniel Ek, now serving eight years in prison for his role in the fatal beating. David Ek was arraigned Monday in Chelsea District Court on two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and one count each of unlawful possession of ammunition and unlawfully carrying a loaded firearm.Revere Police arrested David Ek just after midnight Saturday after receiving a call for an Asian male in his mid-20s wearing a black jacket and carrying a gun on Sumner Street.Responding officers saw Ek, who matched the description and allegedly turned, walked away from the officers and refused orders to stop. When the officers approached him, they observed a semiautomatic handgun in his right hand. As they took him into custody, they recovered a revolver from his left jacket pocket.Assistant District Attorneys David Frdette and Amy Galatis prosecuted the case. Katherine Moran was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.