MINEOLA, N.Y. – Ruben Diego Avila Huicab, 33, has been convicted of the murder of 40-year-old Ricardo Cardona following a work dispute in Hempstead. The verdict came from a jury trial presided over by Judge Meryl Berkowitz on Monday. Huicab was found guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
According to trial testimony, on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, at around 8:33 pm, Huicab, along with a 16-year-old co-defendant, drove to Dakota Place and Vermont Avenue in Hempstead, where Cardona resided. The two had been in a continuous dispute over payment for construction work Cardona had performed for Huicab.
On the night of the incident, Huicab supplied the teenager with a semi-automatic pistol and instructed him to wait in a van while he contacted Cardona to lure him outside. As Cardona approached the vehicle, the teenager fired seven shots, hitting Cardona five times, including in the neck and chest. Huicab and the teen then fled.
Local officers arrived on the scene soon after the shooting and pronounced Cardona dead. Huicab and his co-defendant were later arrested in Maryland on January 21, 2021.
