Suspect in baby's murder a no-show

Nearly four years after Martin Quirindongo allegedly beat a 9-month-old baby in his care to death in the Marble Hill Houses, justice was once again delayed at the Bronx Criminal Court on Feb. 20.

Mr. Quirindongo, who police claim “confessed on tape to hitting, biting and crushing” baby Ryan Ferrer in order to silence him on May 3, 2011, failed to appear in court for at least the fifth time since the start of 2014. The defendant was 17 at the time of the crime.

The assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, Astrid Borgstedt, declined to discuss the ongoing matter. Mr. Quirindongo’s lawyer, Eliot Kaplan, could not be reached for comment.

After reportedly confessing to authorities, Mr. Quirindongo was placed in Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric evaluation. He was arraigned from the hospital on May 10, 2011 and is currently incarcerated on Rikers Island.

“Maybe he just didn’t want to get on the bus that day,” a spokeswoman for the Bronx DA said in reference to Mr. Quirindongo’s truancy.

The most recent no-show comes after a Jan. 21 force order requiring corrections officers to produce Mr. Quirindongo “by any means necessary” at Bellevue Hospital for yet another psychiatric examination.

It was not immediately clear why further examination was needed years after the case was first adjourned for the same reasons. It was also unclear, more than a month after the force order was issued, whether Mr. Quirindongo attended the examination.

The spokeswoman for the Bronx DA speculated that Mr. Quirindongo’s truancy at the medical facility could be “due to any number of factors,” including a backlog of cases at the Rikers Island Anna M. Kross Center, where Mr. Quirindongo is held, or at Bellevue Hospital. She rejected the idea that either the court or the Bronx DA were culpable for not actively prosecuting the case.

A Department of Corrections spokeswoman declined to comment on specific cases or force orders, but said, “This is human behavior: people resist.”

Bellevue Hospital officials did not return requests for comment.

Legacy of delays