Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Arturo Cuevas and Daisy Barrera were indicted by a grand jury and arraigned today for attempted murder and other crimes for a brutal attack on their neighbors, allegedly as revenge for a previous fight over a parking spot.

District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, the husband stabbed the victim and the wife hit him with a baseball bat, working in tandem and leaving the injured man with no chance to retreat from this rage-filled attack. We will seek justice.”

Cuevas, 30, and his wife, Barrera, 27, of 49^th Street in Woodside, were arraigned on a six-count indictment charging them with attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.  Barrera was also charged with assault in the second degree. Justice Toni Cimino set a return date of May 9. If convicted, Cuevas and Barrera each face up to 25 years in prison.

According to the charges:

• On March 17, at approximately 3:40 p.m., Cuevas approached his neighbor, Wilson Chabla Lliguicota, 28, who had just arrived home and parked his car on 47^th Avenue in Woodside. As Cuevas began repeatedly stabbing him with a folding knife, Barrera hit Lliguicota on the head multiple times with a baseball bat.
• After the injured Lliguicota fell to the ground, Cuevas repeatedly stomped on him and slashed him in the face while Barrera continued to hit him on his head with the bat.
• Barrera also hit Delia Chimbay, Lliguicota’s girlfriend who came to his aid, with the baseball bat.
• The couple retreated to their nearby apartment as officers from the 108^th Precinct responded. Following a 20-minute standoff, both defendants were arrested inside of their apartment building.
• Lliguicota was taken to Elmhurst Hospital with several lacerations and blunt force trauma. He underwent treatment for severe brain trauma that required surgery and the removal of a portion of his skull.

Cell phone videos posted to social media depicted most of the attack.

Assistant District Attorney Eric Weinstein of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Michael Whitney, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark