CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, N.J. – A New Jersey man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for fatally beating a college student with a baseball bat because he thought the teen had laughed at him.
Thirty-two-year-old Alberto Martinez had been convicted of murder in the 2010 attack in Wildwood. Authorities have said Martinez was a homeless, unemployed laborer who got around on a bike and had been seen previously carrying a bat.
Nineteen-year-old Vincent DeSario, of Edison, died two weeks after being struck in the head.
He and two friends had been walking along a Wildwood street when one of them tripped, causing them to laugh. Witnesses say Martinez angrily approached the group and swung the bat, hitting DeSario.
Martinez died Tuesday. The Press of Atlantic City reports (http://bit.ly/1caHblk ) he won't be eligible for parole for about 40 years.
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