BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBKW) — It was an intense and emotional Friday morning inside Erie County Court when State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller sentenced three men in connection to the murder of a Town of Tonawanda woman and the murder of two others in Buffalo.
41-year-old Ernest B. Green, Jr., 41-year-old Daniel Rodriguez and 27-year-old Wayne Robbins were sentenced to 75 years to life in prison.
All men except for Green waived their right to speak in court. Green told Justice Boller he maintains his innocence.
Last month, Green and Rodriguez were found guilty of one count of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder in the death of 31-year-old Danielle Cretacci.
The district attorney's office said on August 27, 2019, Green and Rodriguez murdered Cretacci and shot her two daughters, who were 8 and 11 at the time, during a home invasion robbery inside her home on Ebling Avenue.
"And these two little girls who sat there on the couch next to their mom, while these two men shot and killed her mom right in front of them, shot her in the back of the head. They are never going to see the light of day and that's justice as best as we can deliver here," Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane said.
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In a press conference following the sentencing, Assistant District Attorney, Ryan Haggerty, said that the girls are doing well and are now 13 and 16.
A jury also found Green and Robbins guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder in a separate case.
The district attorney's office said a month later on September 27, 2019, Green and Robbins murdered 21-year-old Bethany B. Malloy and 26-year-old Shaquiel S. St. John during a robbery inside a two-unit residence on Merrimac Street in Buffalo.
Haggerty said these men were after money and those attempts turned deadly.
"They were preying on people who counted on these defendants as friends and they did not suspect for a moment think they would betray them this way," Haggerty said.
He added that the district attorney's office strongly believes the men were able to get money from Cretacci's home, but not from the home invasion on Merrimac Street.
Family members of the victims shared statements before Boller sentenced all three men.
Christina Gilinger, the mother of Malloy, was emotional speaking to Green in the courtroom. Gilinger spoke directly to Green about the little boy Malloy left behind.
"The memories he has of her that he remembers the most is going to Chuck E. Cheese and Marvel movies. All good things. But the last memory he has of her is of her dying," Gilinger said. "You took his mother who meant everything to him."
Shaqueil St. John's brother, Anthony Avery, and mother, Rebecca Samuel, also shared emotional statements.
"To Mr. Green and Mr. Robbins — you took lives more valuable than yours combined," Avery said.
"There's no moving on. No getting over it. No fixing. No solution to my heartache," Samuel added.
