A jury went home Tuesday afternoon after deliberating for several hours. They will be back at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday to decide what to do with a youth who is accused of killing a younger teen.
Tuesday was the last day of the trial for a guy from Fairfax County who was 18 years old at the time and was accused of killing a 14-year-old boy in Herndon about a year ago.
The office of the commonwealth’s attorney and Ismael Cruz Del Cid’s defense lawyer both agree that he shot and killed Michai Malave, a 14-year-old Westfield High School teacher. They didn’t agree on whether the killing was planned or done in self-defense.
The shooting took place in the late afternoon of March 20, 2024. Cruz Del Cid pulled into the parking lot of the Sonesta Extended Stay hotel in Herndon’s McNair neighborhood. The court heard that Cruz Del Cid saw Malave and another teen get out of his car.
Both groups agree that there was a fight and that the other teen threw a punch, but different witnesses had different ideas about how bad the fight was and whether Malave threw punches.
Malave was killed when Cruz Del Cid shot him twice in the chest and neck. Lawyers for the prosecution say he also pulled the gun and tried to shoot the other teen, but failed.
The prosecutor for Fairfax County, Kennedy Nyhoff, said that Cruz Del Cid left the scene on foot, hid the gun in the woods, and threw away his pants in a nearby neighborhood.
Nghoff said Cruz Del Cid took the Metro to the Innovation Center stop and rode to Tysons. There, he got an Uber and drove to Woodbridge to pick up his girlfriend.
Cruz Del Cid called his best friend from the Uber to go get the murder weapon from the woods. Nyhoff said that when he got to his girlfriend’s house, he messed up his phone so badly that investigators couldn’t get any information off of it.
Nyhoff said, “These are not the actions of someone who kills because they have to.” “These are the actions of someone who knows that they have done wrong.”
In one text message, Cruz Del Cid said, “You’re not going to be able to see me for a long time.” Nyhoff also showed these messages.
Nghoff said that Cruz Del Cid’s booking picture from the next day, when he turned himself in, only shows a scratch and “three hickeys on his neck.” She said that Malave’s knuckles didn’t show that he had punched Cruz Del Cid, even though the other kid admitted to doing it.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office wanted the jury to think that Cruz Del Cid’s life was in danger, so he shot himself in self-defense. But Del Cid’s lawyer, Damon Colbert, said that wasn’t true.
Colbert told the jury on Tuesday morning, “They jumped him to the point where he had to defend himself.” He also said that Cruz Del Cid had reason to think Malave and the other teen were armed. “He sees these guys moving their pants.” “Let me wait and see what they do” is an idiotic thing to say. “I’ll wait and get shot.”
Colbert said that the other teen who lived was a member of the “Frontline” group that had been bothering Cruz Del Cid for at least a year before the killing.
Cruz Del Cid had seen videos of the group’s members with guns, which made him worry that his life was even more at risk, Colbert said.
The jury could find Cruz Del Cid guilty of first-degree murder or a lesser charge in Malave’s death. They were also told to decide if Cruz Del Cid was guilty of trying to kill the other youth. Around lunchtime on Tuesday, the case was given to the jury.
Jenna Malave, Malave’s mother, put out a statement that 7News got from the cops. :
“Ismael Cruz Del Cid chose to kill himself and leave my son, Michai Syer Malave, to die alone when he was only 14 years old.” It was impossible to stay sad around Michai because he always had a beautiful smile on his face and a laugh that could make anyone happy. He had more love, knowledge, and kindness than his years showed. He loved his family and was a proud big brother, uncle, and friend to many. I’m sure that Ismael Cruz Del Cid would have done this to someone else if Michai hadn’t been there. What he did was mean, planned, and dangerous. I’m not going to stop fighting until he gets life in jail. My son’s life was important. To be fair to Michai, his killer should never be able to hurt another innocent person.
