An illegal immigrant from Guatemala has been found guilty of first-degree murder and rape

Shawn Cohen:

An unrepentant Ariel Menendez swore at the courtroom after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and rape of his ex-girlfriend, a speedy verdict that could send him to prison for the rest of his life.

"Ariel, coward!" Patricia Butler, mother of murder victim Elizabeth Butler, shouted back at Menendez before he was led away in handcuffs.

Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore said she now will seek to have the 28-year-old locked up for life without parole, calling this the "only appropriate sentence" for the brutal raping, stabbing and strangling of a 17-year-old girl.

The conviction on the top charges came yesterday afternoon, just two hours after jurors began deliberations in Westchester County Court.

Elizabeth Butler's parents said they were surprised at how quickly the decision came, and they praised law enforcement for its success, but there were no smiles even when the verdict was read.

"I don't know how you replace thousands of lost moments," Bill Butler said of his daughter, who was set to graduate from North Salem High School and head to college when she was murdered. "We can't.

"It's not a happy event," he said. "All I can say is we're pleased with the verdict."

He and his wife, Patricia, found their daughter's body in her Nissan Pathfinder the morning of June 5 after she didn't show up for work at the Hygrade Market across from the Croton Falls train station. Prosecutors said Menendez, who met Butler at the market while working at a nearby construction job, raped and then killed her because he could not accept that their relationship was over.

The crime shocked the small, quiet community, where many locals knew Butler from her activities in high school, the Girl Scouts, the market and the nursery at Hardscrabble Tennis Club.

During the two-week trial, the defense argued that the prosecution couldn't prove its first-degree murder case because there was no sexual assault, only consensual sex. But prosecutors presented extensive DNA evidence showing Menendez's semen at the crime scene and Butler's blood on the clothes he tried to get rid of that day. They said the proof she was raped and intentionally killed was the knife he took from his friend's apartment the previous day.

Jurors asked for a readback on some of that evidence, before returning with the verdict minutes later. Butler's parents, with hands clasped, stared intently at Menendez.

"I just needed to see his face when he was found guilty," Patricia Butler said. "He took my daughter away from me and I had to see justice done."

Menendez held his head down, showing no reaction at first. A member of the defense team rubbed his back to comfort him, before he directed a profanity at the gallery.

"Who's going to rub Elizabeth's back?" Patricia Butler shouted at Menendez after calling him a coward.

Menendez's relatives left the courthouse before the verdict came back.

Prosecutors got everything they were looking for, a conviction on two counts of first-degree murder, first-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act. Menendez faces 20 years to life without parole in state prison on the murder conviction when he is sentenced July 25 before Judge Barbara Zambelli.

"On the morning of June 5, 2005, the life of a young woman was cut short and many others were changed forever," DiFiore said later. "Although the conviction of this defendant will send him to prison effectively for the rest of his life, the loss that the victim's family and friends have endured will be with them for the rest of their lives."

She congratulated the state police and prosecution team for the conviction and said, "I will seek the maximum penalty allowed by law at the sentencing."

The Butlers, who joined DiFiore for a press conference, said they hope the case will teach young people about the dangers of abuse in relationships, a cause they're promoting through the newly created Elizabeth Gabrielle Butler Angel Foundation.

"As bad as some things are in life, we hope some good will come of it," Bill Butler said.

Patricia Butler denounced the fact that Menendez, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was allowed to remain in the United States after past convictions for felony driving while intoxicated and other offenses.

"If he had been deported, my daughter would be alive today," she said.

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