Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced on Friday, Dec. 8, that a Bronx man was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for the 2022 murder of his friend and former roommate, 29-year-old Yonkers resident Marquis Muniz.

 

Reacting to the sentencing, Rocah, who, as reported, recently said she is not planning to run for reelection, said, “The defendant violently took the life of a close friend in cold blood. We hope today’s sentence brings a measure of justice and closure to Mr. Muniz’s loved ones.”

 

After a three-week trial, a jury on Oct. 27 found William Pryor, 23, guilty of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, all felonies. Should the defendant be released from prison, prosecutors said he will be subject to community supervision by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).

 

According to the investigation, on March 3, 2022, at around 3.40 p.m., the defendant used a .40 caliber pistol to shoot the victim 10 times in the victim’s apartment on Riverdale Avenue in Yonkers. The victim’s fiancé discovered the victim’s body in the apartment later that afternoon.

 

Prosecutors said that around one month prior to the murder, Muniz evicted Pryor from his apartment after he had lived there for two years rent-free. On the day of the murder, they said Pryor was captured on surveillance video entering and leaving the apartment building with a black garbage bag.

 

Surveillance evidence also captured Pryor placing the black garbage bag in a car and traveling to his mother’s house in The Bronx, where police later recovered the bag, which was tested and found to have traces of gunshot residue.

 

Following a two-month, multi-state investigation conducted by the Yonkers Police Department, with assistance from the Peekskill Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors said Pryor was located at a home in Montrose, and arrested on June 30, 2022.

 

In a statement to the court, the victim’s fiancé said, “On March 3, 2022, my life was forever changed by the hateful, envious actions of someone who my man only helped and gave love to when no one else would…I came home that day to find the love of my life dead…That is an image I will forever live with.”

 

The case was heard before Judge Robert Neary in Westchester County Court and prosecuted by Bureau Chief Daniel Flecha and Senior Assistant District Attorney Catalina Blanco Buitrago, both of the Trials and Investigations Division.