By The Canadian Press

Jury convicts man in killings of 4 men as they slept on NYC streets, rejecting insanity defense

Feb 19, 2026 | 1:01 PM

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who fatally beat four sleeping men on the streets of New York City’s Chinatown was convicted of first-degree murder Thursday, with a jury rejecting his insanity defense in the 2019 rampage.

Randy Santos’ attorneys had conceded that he pummeled the defenseless victims — Chuen Kok, Anthony Manson, Florencio Moran and Nazario Vásquez Villegas — with a metal bar and meant to kill them.

But Santos’ lawyers contended that he was too mentally ill to be held criminally responsible. They said he was driven by schizophrenic delusions that made him believe he had to kill 40 people or would die himself.

Prosecutors countered that Santos took steps, such as sometimes looking out for potential witnesses, and subsequently made remarks that showed that he knew that the attacks were both illegal and immoral.

The Dominican-born Santos, 31, showed no reaction as he heard the verdict, through headphones, via a Spanish-language interpreter.

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The killings spurred scrutiny of the city’s struggles to aid and protect a homeless population that had reached record size.

With the convictions, Santos could be sentenced to life in prison. A sentencing hearing was set for April 16, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. said in a statement.

“A jury determined that Randy Santos knowingly and purposefully murdered four men with a metal bar in the span of less than 30 minutes. They were strangers to him, and simply happened to be sleeping on Chinatown sidewalks that horrific night,” Bragg said.

Santos was homeless, as were some of the victims. The slain men ranged in age from 39 to 83.

Defense attorney Arnold Levine contended in a closing argument Wednesday that Santos might have recognized he could land in legal trouble but couldn’t appreciate that what he was doing was morally wrong.

“The only explanation was Randy’s psychosis. … It’s the only thing that explains what happened,” Levine told jurors, adding that “psychosis replaced Randy’s moral judgment.”

Prosecutors said Santos realized the attacks were both illegal and immoral. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alfred Peterson emphasized Wednesday that Santos sometimes looked out for potential witnesses and that he told a psychiatrist in 2024: “I know it’s not a good action.”

“Despite his illness, he was able to make a determination that what he was doing was wrong,” Peterson said in his summation.

Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press