One-man Hackensack crime wave sentenced to 20 years for attacks on police officers
By Mary K. Miraglia
HACKENSACK, N.J. (Feb. 3, 2017) — A man called a “one-man crime wave” by the prosecutor was sentenced Friday to 20 years for engaging Hackensack police in a firefight on a neighborhood street.
Robert Leonardis, 25, was seriously injured in the gun battle that began when he fired two shots through the window of a city police cruiser in July, 2013. Leonardis had told friends and family that he would rather die than go back to jail, and vowed he’d engage in a gunbattle with police rather than be taken alive.
After firing on the cruiser, Officer Joseph Ayoubi knocked Leonardis down with the police car and separated him from his weapon. But Leonardis stepped into the street, holding his arms in shooting mode anyway. Police, believing he still had the weapon, returned fire with approximately 60 rounds, hitting him about 15 times, damaging his liver and bladder among other injuries.
Friday’s hearing was before a courtroom full of Hackensack police officers, friends and family, including the two officers who resigned following the firefight.
Leonardis told Judge Margaret M. Foti he came from a good family, but made “bad choices.” The scenario was set in motion earlier in April 2013 when Leonardis stabbed his girlfriend’s husband, Marcel S. Alcala of Little Ferry, after the man broke into his apartment armed with a tire iron. Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Thomas Kearney said the defendant stabbed Alcala in the abdomen “three times while he was restrained by Leonardis’ mother and stepfather.” That crime and a burglary in Oakland led Leonardis to the standoff with police.
“I’m completely responsible for everything that happened, including my injuries,” he said. Looking like a different man than the person arrested in July 2013, he thanked god he was the only one injured. His hair was neat, his complexion clear, and he sat up straight paying close attention the proceedings. This was in sharp contrast to the man who previously came to court with two black eyes and a swollen nose, long greasy hair falling over his face, and sullenly sulked through court appearances.
Friday, all came to play and Leonardis was sentenced by Foti, following a guilty plea he made last June. Leonardis pleaded guilty to first degree attempted murder for firing on Officer Ayoubi and four counts of aggravated assault.
According to his attorney, Vincent Basile of Hackensack, Leonardis is a changed man. “He wants to live,” Basile said Monday in the courthouse. He told Foti of the turnaround in Leonardis’ life and explained how the shooting had been a profound hardship that almost took the defendant’s life.
“He was in a dark place” the day he confronted Hackensack police in what some have termed attempted “suicide by cop.” “He didn’t care whether he lived or died,” Basile said.
But Kearney, of the Homicide Unit, countered Basile’s leniency plea with an impassioned argument about the harm suffered by Hackensack police, whose lives were placed in danger. The gun battle was so stressful that two of the officers, Ayoubi and Sgt. James Dalton, have left the force and ended their careers as police, Kearney said.
Leonardis’ mother also made an emotional plea to Judge Foti, telling her how much she misses her son and what a hardship it will be on the family. She apologized for his behavior and said she prays for Hackensack police because “they are the ones who are here to protect us.” After sentence was pronounced, his mother — who according to Basile has had heart valve replacement — collapsed in a courthouse hallway and an ambulance was called. But she later recovered enough and didn’t go to the hospital.
Kearney said the plea agreement resolves 2nd, 3rd and 4th degree indictable convictions facing Leonardis, which could have resulted in at least 30 or 40 years in prison if convicted at a trial. “The total the state recommends, to run concurrently, is 20 years,” the prosecutor said.
In pronouncing sentence of 20 years for each count of the Hackensack incident, subject to the state No Early Release Act, Foti noted Leonardis has a significant criminal history dating to his juvenile years. She also assessed him 10 years for a 2013 offense and 5 for a 2015 burglary that he also pleaded guilty to, both concurrent.
With NERA, he will have to serve at least 17 years before he is eligible for parole. However, that time will be reduced by 1,294 days, or more than 3-½ years, of jail credit, meaning he could be released from prison in about 13-½ years, when he is less than 40.
“I will honor the plea agreement and sentence you to 20 years NERA,” Foti said. “When police risk their lives on a daily basis, a strong message must be sent that this kind of conduct will not be tolerated.” She said she knows his mother’s ”heart is broken,” and she recognized a hardship to the family but noted the legal factors for and against Leonardis were heavily weighted against him.
