A dispute between two families in a bar in 2018 ended in the tragic death of a defenseless 20-year-old man, beaten by two brothers and stabbed in the middle of the street. Jonathan Miguel Teran Flores pleaded guilty to reduced count of manslaughter on Wednesday.
The jury trial of the 33-year-old man, charged with second degree murder, was to begin this week at the Montreal courthouse. The accused, however, cut short the judicial process by admitting to having caused the death of Marlon Alexis Alvarenga Oliva. He remains free until sentencing.
July 2018. Jonathan Miguel Teran Flores celebrates the 27e his brother Carlos’ birthday party at the Ruby Wu bar, on rue Clark, in Montreal’s Chinatown. The two brothers are accompanied by the accused’s wife and her niece.
Another family has fun at the bar: the victim, Marlon, his brother Ronald and their cousin Juan Jose. The two groups do not know each other. During the evening, the antagonists hurl insults at each other for an unknown reason.
PHOTO FROM THE MEMORIA WEBSITE
The victim, Marlon Alexis Alvarenga Olivia, 20
Tempers flared as they left the bar around 3:45 a.m. The victim’s cousin then attacked Carlos, the accused’s brother, by punching him in the face in his vehicle. The victim also kicks him. A battle breaks out on Saint-Laurent Boulevard. Carlos removes his belt and strikes towards the other side.
Marlon and his cousin start running south, chased by the Flores brothers. Near the Old Brewery Mission, the Flores brothers and Jeannie Papigatuk, the spouse of the accused, beat Marlon with punches and kicks. He is then helpless, on the ground.
Jonathan Miguel Teran Flores stabs Marlon repeatedly, while the defendant’s brother restrains the victim’s cousin, Juan Carlos. The latter was stabbed in the back and cut in the face, but it is not known who inflicted the blows on him. Note that the victims had no weapons.
Two witnesses attend the scene, partially captured by camera. According to a witness, Carlos was “aggressive” and said that “this is what happens when you try to steal his chain”. The witness, an Uber driver, had the reflex to photograph the license plate of the vehicle killers.
Intercepted by the police, the accused refuses to surrender and claims to be the “victim”. He is subdued by pepper spray. The victim’s blood was found in several places on the hands and clothing of the Flores brothers and Jeannie Papigatuk. She was not charged.
The defendant’s brother, Carlos Teran Flores, was found guilty by a jury of manslaughter in November 2020 and was sentenced to two years in prison in January 2021. He is appealing the case.
Jonathan Miguel Teran Flores was charged only two years after the attack, in September 2020, when his wife’s niece revealed to the police that the accused had confessed to having stabbed the victim. “I almost killed him,” the accused had told his group during their escape by car.
Submissions on the sentence are scheduled in two weeks before Judge Éliane Perreault. Me Nadia Berube, Me Geneviève Gravel and M.e Jean-Philippe MacKay represent the public ministry, while Me Christine Renaud and M.e Farah Nantel defend the accused.