Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Elisaul Perez pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the November 2021 Thanksgiving weekend attack of 61-year-old Guiying Ma. Ma was struck in the head with a large rock while sweeping the sidewalk and street on the block of a friends’ home.

District Attorney Katz said: “Her family, friends and neighbors still mourn the loss of Guiying Ma, whose life was senselessly taken last year in this brutal attack. The defendant will now be held to account for an unprovoked attack that robbed a family of their loved one. The lengthy sentence to be imposed by the court is fully justified.”

Perez, 33, of Blake Avenue, Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky indicated that he would sentence Perez on January 10 to a determinate term of 20 years in prison to be followed by five years post-release supervision.

According to the charges, on November 26, 2021, the victim was observed sweeping the sidewalk and street in front of 38^th Avenue near 97^th Street at approximately 8:00 am. Moments later, as captured on surveillance video, the defendant picked up a large rock and struck Ma in the head. After Ma fell to the ground, Perez struck her in the head with the rock a second time.

Ma was taken to a local hospital where she underwent emergency surgery for severe head trauma and brain injuries. After a three-month hospitalization, Mrs. Ma died from complications from her injuries.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Rizk of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Eric Rosenbaum, Bureau Chief, and Debra Lynn Pomodore and Brian Hughes, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel Saunders.