Jury Convicts East Meadow Man of Murder

After one day of deliberation, a jury convicted an East Meadow man of murder for shooting a stranger in the stomach with a shotgun in Hempstead last April, according to the Nassau County District Attorney's office.

Herber Guzman, 42, was convicted of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree. The trial lasted three weeks.

Guzman will be sentenced Nov. 22. He faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

According to Rice, at approximately 4:30 a.m. on April 26, 2012, Guzman was in his white Kia Sportage on Marvin Street in Hempstead when he fired a shotgun into the abdomen of 46-year-old Stanley Cater.

During the investigation, Nassau County homicide detectives identified the vehicle and Guzman as its owner, and notified police officers in the area to be on the lookout for it. Guzman was arrested six days later when he was stopped for a routine traffic violation by Hempstead Police. Officers found a small bag of crack cocaine in the vehicle and brought Guzman to police headquarters where he was ultimately arrested for Cater’s murder, according to the DA's office.