Second Suspect Arrested in 2003 Murder

John Guica arrived at his Brooklyn home Monday night, his arms laden with Christmas gifts he had just purchased in Manhattan. He never made it through the door: Detectives who had waited more than a year to arrest him staked out his home and pounced on Mr. Guica, who will be spending Christmas in jail.Mr. Guica, 20, was charged in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn yesterday with providing a semiautomatic handgun to Antonio Russo, who was charged last month with the murder of New Jersey native Mark Fisher on October 12, 2003.“The other shoe has dropped in the Mark Fisher case,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. “While we long suspected that John Guica abetted Antonio Russo in the murder of Mark Fisher, it was only recently that we developed enough information to arrest him last night. Based on facts uncovered in a painstaking investigation by our detectives, we now know that Guica provided Russo with a .22-caliber gun that was used to kill Mark Fisher.”Mr. Guica is the second suspect to be arrested in a 2003 murder case that had no shortage of potential witnesses – and no shortage of frustration for investigators because none of the witnesses would talk. Ten people, including Fisher, attended an after-party at Mr. Guica’s home at Kensington while his parents were away. Fisher was shot outside the home after he left the party. No one came forward, and potential witnesses clammed up under interrogation.The prosecutors “used a classic investigative technique, the power of the grand jury, to put pressure on people who thought they were going to get away with what they had done because they had lawyered up,” Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said.Mr. Guica pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, robbery in the first and third degrees, and multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon, and was remanded without bail. Wearing a green jacket and plaid sweater, Mr. Guica appeared calm during his arraignment, and his mother kissed him outside the courtroom. Mr. Guica’s next scheduled court appearance is January 21.“The truth will set him free,” Mr. Guica’s mother, Doreen Giuliano, said after his arraignment. Defense attorney James Kilduff declined to comment.Fisher’s parents, Michael and Nancy Fisher, who once offered a $100,000 reward for information about the murder, attended Mr. Guica’s arraignment. “We haven’t given up,” Mr. Fisher said, his face slack with grief.Mr. Russo, who was 17 at the time of the October 12, 2003, shooting, was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree robbery at Brooklyn Supreme Court on November 23. Mr. Russo allegedly shot Fisher at 6:38 a.m. after the two left the party at Mr. Guica’s home at 152 Stratford Rd. Mr. Russo is charged with shooting Fisher while he sat in a car nearby, then pulling the body out of the car and dumping it in the street.“We believe that, prior to the departure of Mark Fisher from Guica’s residence, Guica retrieved the gun from an upstairs bedroom and gave it to Russo,” Mr. Kelly said.Fisher, a native of Andover, N.J., who was a sophomore at Fairfield University, was partying with friends from his Connecticut college at the Bar Harbor club on the Upper East Side when he took a liking to a woman he met through a classmate. When some of the students were denied service at the club because they lacked identification, Mr. Guica suggested they go to his Brooklyn home because his parents were in Florida. Fisher left the bulk of his college friends behind when he left the bar at 2 a.m. and went to Mr. Guica’s home.After they arrived at the party, Fisher left with Mr. Russo and they went to a nearby ATM, where Fisher withdrew $20. At some point, Mr. Russo allegedly stole the money. According to Mr. Hynes, robbery was the motive for the killing. The firearm has not been recovered.This is Mr. Guica’s third arrest since the shooting. He was arrested at a Florida nightclub on July 4 and charged with first-degree attempted assault for shooting at someone during a dispute, missing his intended target. On September 30, Mr. Guica was arrested on a Brooklyn street corner for buying narcotics while wearing a bulletproof vest.

Second Suspect Arrested in 2003 Murder

Second Suspect Arrested in 2003 Murder

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