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Background: News footage of the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Hempstead, N.Y., where Jose Osma was attacked in April 2022 (News 12 Long Island). Inset (left): Dennis “Midnight” Ray (Nassau County Police Department). Inset (right): Jose Osma (Hungerford & Clark Funeral Home).
A New York man is on the brink of receiving his sentence following a jury’s decision to convict him of murder in a brutal beating case.
Dennis “Midnight” Ray, aged 64, was found guilty on charges of second-degree murder, assault, and two counts of robbery. This verdict comes four years after the tragic incident in which 59-year-old Jose Osma was discovered severely beaten behind a Chuck E. Cheese in Hempstead, New York. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly confirmed in a statement that Ray, along with an accomplice named Tyrell Guthrie, had attacked Osma on the night of April 22, 2022, robbing him and leaving him critically injured.
Osma was discovered unconscious by someone passing by at around 6:30 a.m. the following morning.
According to Donnelly, Osma was immediately taken to a hospital where he was initially treated as an unidentified patient, or “John Doe,” due to the absence of any identification. He suffered severe fractures to his skull and face. His family, having reported him missing on the same day he was admitted, was able to identify him by April 24, 2022.
“What followed was a harrowing cycle of brain surgeries, paralysis, rehabilitation, and hospitalizations,” Donnelly stated, describing Osma’s struggle. Tragically, Osma succumbed to his extensive injuries on April 30, 2023, marking the end of a year-long battle for survival.
Guthrie, who pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Nov. 9, 2023, was arrested near the scene of the crime by the Nassau County Police Department the day after the attack. At the time, he had blood on his clothes and was carrying Ray’s jacket, which was also covered in Osma’s blood. Ray was arrested on May 7, 2022.
Donnelly said Ray “showed no remorse for his violent assault, even bragging minutes after the attack about the stolen money and the heinous crime he committed to get it.”
Guthrie was sentenced in January 2024 to 18 years in prison. Ray is scheduled to be sentenced on May 12 and faces a sentence of 25 years to life.