Murder trial begins for 3 men charged in NYC gay bar drugging scheme

Julio Ramirez and John Umberger. (Ramirez family photo; Linda Clary)
Julio Ramirez, left, and John Umberger.

The trial of three men who prosecutors say facilitated a drugging and robbery scheme that terrorized New York City’s gay bars and led to two deaths began Wednesday in a downtown Manhattan courtroom.

Jayqwan Hamilton, 36; Robert Demaio, 35; and Jacob Barroso, 30, are accused of working together to drug and rob five men after meeting them outside Manhattan gay bars and nightclubs from March 2021 to June 2022. Prosecutors alleged that the crimes led to the deaths of social worker Julio Ramirez, 25, and political consultant John Umberger, 33, in the spring of 2022. The crimes didn’t come into broad public view until May 2022 — more than a year after the scheme began — when NBC News reported on Ramirez’s mysterious death.

Hamilton, Demaio and Barroso pleaded not guilty to charges in connection with the scheme that included murder, conspiracy and grand larceny. Attorneys for Hamilton and Demaio declined to comment. An attorney for Barroso did not immediately return a request for comment.

In her opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Emily Ching said the three men — along with three others who had previously pleaded guilty to lesser charges — lurked outside several Manhattan gay bars, befriended seemingly intoxicated men and then suggested the victims continue the night with them at subsequent locations.

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Once in private, Ching said, the defendants worked together to drug the victims to the point of incapacitation using a concoction that included fentanyl. Next, she said, the defendants would use the victims’ unconscious faces to access their bank accounts and payment apps using facial recognition technology. They would then steal thousands of dollars and use the victims’ payment apps to pay for food, shoes, alcohol and other items, according to Ching.

The assistant district attorney also laid out how the same methods were allegedly used to target and rob Ramirez and Umberger, which ultimately led to their deaths.

“The evidence will make it very clear that it does not matter who handed the drugs to the victims,” Ching said. “The evidence will establish that each defendant intended to commit the robberies, succeeded together in committing the robberies and, as a result, the victims died.”

In their opening statements, attorneys for the three defendants called the deaths “tragic” but asked jurors to keep an open mind until the end of the case.

“We ask you to put that aside and decide this case on the evidence,” Dean J. Vigliano, an attorney for Demaio, pleaded.

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The attorneys also said that it was impossible to know which drugs led to the deaths of  Ramirez and Umberger. Ching acknowledged that some of the victims, including Ramirez and Umberger, used illicit drugs recreationally on occasion.

“They can’t prove which drugs killed these two individuals,” Vigliano said. “You’ll find if you look at the toxicology reports, any number of these drugs could have killed these individuals.”

The New York City medical examiner’s office ruled the deaths of Ramirez and Umberger as homicides caused by a “drug-facilitated theft.” The drugs found in their systems included fentanyl, lidocaine and cocaine, according to the medical examiner’s report

One of the surviving victims who testified Wednesday, referred to solely by his first name, Alex, admitted to using recreational drugs on occasion, such as marijuana and cocaine. He said, however, he did not do so to the point of incapacitation.

Ching said video footage from the night of Alex’s encounter shows him losing mobility shortly after meeting up with two of the defendants outside his hotel in Manhattan’s Union Square. She said the two men then wheeled Alex’s unconscious body into his hotel room using a luggage cart, where they then robbed him.

Other surviving victims and the mother of Umberger, Linda Clary, are expected to testify.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com