Syracuse, NY — A Syracuse City Court Judge agreed to a prosecutor’s request to seal the court record Tuesday after arraigning a 23-year-old man in connection with a baby’s murder Sunday evening.
Judge Erica Clarke’s order keeps hidden from the public documents that outline evidence against Chavez Ocasio, 23, of Grant Boulevard, who remains jailed with no bail on murder, weapons and evidence tampering charges.
Chief homicide prosecutor Melinda McGunnigle asked for the rare sealing order at the end of Ocasio’s arraignment Tuesday, arguing that revealing too much information could jeopardize the ongoing investigation.
That doesn’t keep the information from Ocasio’s attorney, William Sullivan, who confirmed he’d received a copy Tuesday morning. But it prevents its release to the public.
Sullivan signaled that he had no objection to sealing the record. The judge agreed to do so.
Though Ocasio was charged within a day of baby Dior Harris’s murder, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s accused of being the triggerman.
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Dior HarrisProvided photograph
Police say Dior was killed -- and two girls who are sisters, aged 3 and 8 were injured -- during a drive-by shooting Sunday evening as the suspect vehicle passed the vehicle they were riding in on Grant Avenue, on the city’s Southwest Side (not to be confused with Ocasio’s home on Grant Boulevard on the North Side). While it’s possible that Ocasio is accused of driving the vehicle and pulling the trigger, many drive-by shootings involve more than one person: a passenger often opens fire while the driver focuses on getting away.
Under state law, Ocasio can be charged with murder if he is the accused getaway driver and knew of the plan to open fire on other people. But with the sealing order, it remains unclear exactly how Ocasio is being charged.
What’s abundantly clear is that Ocasio’s arrest was not the end of the investigation, and that prosecutors feared that releasing information now could hurt their case against Ocasio -- or others -- in the future.
Sullivan noted in court that he was called in to defend Ocasio on Monday night. Ocasio was taken into custody around 8 p.m., according to jail records. It’s unclear whether Ocasio gave police any statements at the time of his arrest; none were mentioned in court.
Clarke noted that she was required to hold Ocasio in jail without bail until a preliminary hearing Friday to determine whether there was enough evidence to make an arrest. Lawyers can avoid having to hold such a hearing if the case is sent to grand jury before then.
Ocasio’s lawyer entered a mandatory not-guilty plea on his behalf. (Even if he were interested in pleading guilty, Ocasio can’t do that until the case goes to a higher court judge.)
Neither the DA’s office nor Syracuse police have commented publicly on the case. The only public acknowledgement of Ocasio’s arrest has been in jail records and during Tuesday’s required arraignment in open court.
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Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070.
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