Background: News footage of the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Hempstead, N.Y., where Jose Osma was attacked in April 2022 (News 12 Long Island). Inset (left): Dennis “Midnight” Ray (Nassau County Police Department). Inset (right): Jose Osma (Hungerford & Clark Funeral Home).
A New York man will soon learn his fate after a jury found him guilty of murdering a man by beating him to death.
Dennis “Midnight” Ray, 64, was convicted of second-degree murder, assault, and two counts of robbery on Tuesday, four years after 59-year-old Jose Osma was found severely beaten behind a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Hempstead, New York. In a press release, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Ray and an accomplice, Tyrell Guthrie, robbed Osma and beat him “within an inch of his life” on the night of April 22, 2022.
Osma was found by a passerby at 6:30 a.m. the next day, unconscious.
According to Donnelly, Osma was rushed to the hospital where he was treated as a “John Doe” after being found with no identification. He was treated for numerous fractures to his skull and face. His family reported him missing the day he was admitted, and he was finally identified on April 24, 2022.
Donnelly said, “[W]hat followed was an endless cycle of brain surgeries, paralysis, rehab, and hospitalizations until Jose sadly succumbed to his extensive injuries a year later.” Osma died on April 30, 2023.
Guthrie, who pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Nov. 9, 2023, was arrested near the scene of the crime by the Nassau County Police Department the day after the attack. At the time, he had blood on his clothes and was carrying Ray’s jacket, which was also covered in Osma’s blood. Ray was arrested on May 7, 2022.
Donnelly said Ray “showed no remorse for his violent assault, even bragging minutes after the attack about the stolen money and the heinous crime he committed to get it.”
Guthrie was sentenced in January 2024 to 18 years in prison. Ray is scheduled to be sentenced on May 12 and faces a sentence of 25 years to life.
