23 years into life sentence, prisoner goes free

Wilfredo Perez, who approved a notorious Hartford murder in the 1990s, is released as drug punishments are reevaluated

A federal judge has freed a man serving three life sentences for a notorious Hartford drug murder based in large part on his record of rehabilitation over almost a quarter century in prison and an extraordinary plea for leniency from two prosecutors who once presented a case for his execution.

Wilfredo Perez led a group of men who sold kilograms of cocaine from an auto repair business on Hartford’s south side in the 1990s, when violence between drug gangs was exploding across the state and courts were imposing Draconian sentences to contain it. When a rival, Teddy Casiano, kidnapped a Perez dealer and stole drugs, Perez approved a plan to hire a hitman for revenge.

In a brazen attack that captured the growing horror over drug violence, the assassin zipped across the busy intersection at New Britain and Newfield avenues in Hartford — at noon, on a motorcycle — and pumped 15 shots into Casiano, who was waiting for the light in his Cadillac.

The Perez case was a warning to drug dealers a quarter century ago, but it now illustrates the shift in thinking about how government should respond to crime. In a measure of how far the pendulum has swung, Perez was granted compassionate release under the 2018 First Step Act, a prison release program that was one of the rare programs on which former President Donald Trump and Congressional Democrats agreed. Dozens of other Connecticut prisoners serving long sentences for violent drug crimes have applied for similar release.

Perez, who is 54, was released not only for the harsh and perhaps arbitrary nature of his sentence, but also because of vulnerability to the coronavirus in prison as a result of hypertension and other health concerns, a remarkable prison record and a need for his help in caring for a dying parent.

In her decision freeing Perez, U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton referred to accounts by federal prison officials and other inmates who said Perez’s 23-year record in prison demonstrate little likelihood he will commit more crimes.

“Mr. Perez has achieved such extraordinary rehabilitation that the Bureau of Prisons itself has taken the extraordinary step of keeping him at Otisville prison for his entire term of incarceration, because he is so integral to mentoring, keeping the peace among other inmates, and his employment duties, which have saved the institution thousands of dollars,” Arterton wrote in her decision, which was released Monday. “This motion then is based squarely on a combination of factors, each of which alone (and certainly in combination) warrants that the Court exercise its authority to reduce his sentence.”

Arterton said an unsolicited letter from the former federal prosecutors who pressed the case against Perez was a further argument for release. They wrote that, in their view, “life behind bars is too harsh a sentence” because Perez’s conduct was not the “moving force behind the murder.”

One of the prosecutors, David Ring, testified in court that there is evidence showing that Perez repeatedly rebuffed demands by associates to kill Casiano, who had been a childhood friend, but eventually acquiesced and “green-lighted” the murder after the kidnapping. Ring also outlined prison accomplishments by Perez that he said suggest efforts at atonement.

“We do not intend to suggest that Wilfredo’s role in the murder was trivial or inconsequential,” Ring and fellow prosecutor Shawn Chen wrote in their letter to Arterton. “However, the evidence presented at trial showed that Wilfredo was not a moving force behind the murder. Without the drive and determination of others, the murder would not have happened. Accordingly, we believe that a life sentence for Wilfredo is excessive and not commensurate with the role he played in the crime.”

Aterton also referred to a separate letter from a member of the Perez jury, who wrote that she felt unfairly restricted by the rules governing verdicts in death penalty cases that limited the jury to choosing between execution and life in prison.

“I felt the need to write you because it has been bothering me since the trial that Mr. Perez was given life in prison with no chance of parole,” the juror wrote. “I know we were only given two options by the government (life in prison with no chance of parole or death), and I was relieved that we did not give him the death penalty, but I now wonder if wemight have been able to request a sentence less harsh.”

Over more than two decades in prison, Perez won the support of prison staff, whosaid he completed every course the system offered, and fellow inmates, who said his counseling helped them find work and avoid reoffending. While in prison, Perez obtained a degree as a electrical technician and saved the system thousands of dollars by repairing equipment.

Perez got three consecutive life sentences for three separate offenses associated with the Casiano murder, even though he didn’t pull the trigger: murder for hire, interstate travel to hire a New York hit man and murder in furtherance of his drug operation. He got another, 10 years — consecutive to the three life sentences — for causing death with a gun in a crime of violence.

Perez’s lawyer Kelly Barrett said he was imprisoned at the “very height of Draconian prison sentences in this country” and that “the era that this case came in was the height of the get tough era against crime.”

Only the hit man remains imprisoned after being prosecuted elsewhere. Everyone else in the case has been released or is dead.

Perez’s brother, Antonio, was sentenced to life, but died in prison in 2010 when another inmate stabbed him in the neck with a pair of scissors during an argument. Santiago Feliciano, who traveled to NewYork to recruit the hit man, ultimately served about five years. Ollie Berrios, who was kidnapped by Casiano and who helped hire the hit man, cooperated with the government and was not prosecuted. Mario Lopez, whodrove the motorcycle, cooperated and was sentenced to five years. Hit man Fausto Gonzalez was charged with multiple murders and is serving a life sentence.

The U.S. Attorney’s office opposed release.

Both prison staff and other inmates told Arterton of Perez’s success at “mentoring” other inmates. One of those inmates, Eric Snead, testified at a hearing on Perez’s release by a video connection with the court. He was sitting in the back of a UPS delivery truck, which he now drives for a living.

“I did eight and one half years at Otisville,” Snead said. “I was angry. I was hell bent on coming out and committing crimes. If it wasn’t for Will, I wouldn’t be here today, doing what I’m doing.”

Perez has been given only two disciplinary tickets in prison — an usually low number — one of which was for fighting with another inmate. In a letter to the court, the inmate said he was in a bad mood and decided to sucker punch Perez. The inmate said Perez’s involvement in the fight was simply trying to defend himself.

Perez will live with his sister and care for his parents.