New Jersey and Guyana domestic murders result in 20‑year and life sentences

Wellington Leonardo, a Dominican national, was sentenced by a Middlesex County, New Jersey judge to 20 years in prison for stabbing his wife, Rossana Rodríguez, to death in September 2024. The killing occurred in front of their four daughters. The court imposed a ten‑year term for homicide by provocation and another ten years for endangering the welfare of a minor, with 85% of the sentence to be served before parole eligibility. Leonardo had claimed self‑defense, a defense rejected by the prosecution.

Yoel Rodríguez Barrientos, a 32‑year‑old Cuban, received two concurrent life sentences from the Demerara High Court in Guyana for the murders of his partner Tara Krishnaran and her 11‑year‑old daughter Larissa Singh on December 25, 2020. He was sentenced to life with parole eligibility after 35 years for the mother’s murder and after 40 years for the child’s murder. The crimes involved hammer blows and a knife attack; Barrientos was captured hours later in Linden. The judge highlighted the breach of trust inherent in the killings.