Four Convicted in N.Y. Slaying of Utah Tourist
Four teen-agers were convicted Tuesday of murder and robbery for fatally stabbing a tourist from Utah as he tried to protect his mother from a mugging.
The defendants, who admitted using the money they had stolen to go dancing, were convicted of felony murder, two counts of first-degree robbery and two counts of second-degree robbery.
The four were charged in the Sept. 2, 1990, attack on five members of the Watkins family in the subway station at 53rd Street and 7th Avenue in the heart of Manhattan’s theater district.
The family members, from Provo, Utah, were in town for the U.S. Open tennis tournament when they were attacked while on their way to dinner.
Brian Watkins, 22, was stabbed in the heart when he tried to help his mother, Karen, 47, who was kicked and punched. Watkins’ 47-year-old father, Sherwin, was knocked down, slashed across the buttocks and robbed of $200.
Pascal Carpenter, Emiliano Fernandez, Johnny Hincapie and Ricardo Nova, all 19, were the first four of eight defendants to be tried in the case. They face a maximum of 25 years to life in prison when they are sentenced Jan. 3.
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