The two men who admitted to robbing and fatally shooting a Mechanicville man last summer are heading to state prison. Matt Hunter reports from the Saratoga County Courthouse.
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. - At the last moment, Wednesday morning’s sentencings were moved into a more spacious courtroom upstairs at the Saratoga County Courthouse to accommodate the large crowd of friends and family of the victim, David Feliciano.
“My worst nightmare was getting a call from the police in the middle of the night," Bonnie Jones said to her son's two killers. "Because of you, that nightmare happened early in the morning of August 8.”
Seated just feet away from 20-year-old Nikolai Mavashev of Halfmoon and 17-year-old Joseph Broscko of Clifton Park, Jones fought through tears as she read her victim's impact statement.
“I can't imagine the fear my child had as he ran out the door with five gunshot wounds that you caused,” Jones said.
Roughly two months earlier, the two co-defendants separately pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder. Broscko's plea came not quite two weeks earlier after agreeing to testify against Mavashev. Both teenagers at the time of the murder, the pair admitted to arriving at Feliciano’s Grove Street home in Mechanicville last August 7, planning to rob and kill him with a .38 caliber pistol.
“I will forever not understand what happened. Even if you tell me a reason, I will still never understand," said Nadine Doyle, Feliciano's former girlfriend. "I know if I was home that night, you would have shot me dead, too.”
Judge James Murphy revealed Wednesday that Mavashev was the "mastermind" of the plot to eliminate Feliciano as competition for his drug dealing business. He then sentenced Mavashev to 20 years to life in prison, giving Broscko a term of 18 years to life.
“It is unfathomable to me how someone who is your age could do something so horrific,” Murphy said.
Their attorneys say their clients have shown remorse since the time of the killing, adding that both were abusing numerous drugs at the time. Both Mavashev and Broscko spoke only briefly when given the chance Wednesday.
“I understand I have destroyed lives, families, ” Mavashev said. "Although nothing can be done, I’m sorry to Nadine and David’s family. That’s it. I can’t really say anything else."
“I feel guilty every day, but I know I can’t change anything," Broscko said. "I am sorry to David’s family members and to David’s girlfriend. I feel disgusted.”
The words of the two young men appeared to do nothing to soothe the pain of the late 19-year-old’s friends and loved ones.
“I will make sure that you never forget what you have taken from us and who I am," Jones said. "You have ruined so many lives and broken so many hearts.”