{"id":94867,"date":"2026-01-09T16:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/94867\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T16:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T16:37:08","slug":"convicted-in-vicious-assault-of-local-barber-ex-con-sentenced-thursday-by-staten-island-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/94867\/","title":{"rendered":"Convicted in \u2018vicious\u2019 assault of local barber, ex-con sentenced Thursday by Staten Island judge"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 A man found guilty recently of staking out and assaulting a local barber <\/a>learned his fate Thursday in state Supreme Court, St. George. <\/p>\n

Ariel Ruiz, 30, of North Burgher Avenue in West Brighton, will serve an indeterminate sentence of two and a half to five years in prison. He was convicted by a jury in September of misdemeanor assault and felony possession of a weapon. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors alleged at trial that in the process of assaulting the victim, Ruiz took the man\u2019s shears and stabbed him. The jury, however, acquitted the defendant of assault with a weapon after the defense argued a lack of evidence.<\/p>\n

The prison sentence \u2014 which falls between the minimum and maximum allowed by state given the severity of the charges \u2014 was handed down Thursday by Justice Mario F. Mattei.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a brutal attack in the way that (Ruiz) snuck up behind the person, and once the person was defenseless on the ground continued to kick him,\u2019’ said Mattei in announcing his decision. <\/p>\n

Prior to sentencing, defense attorney Timothy Richard noted that his client has an 8-year-old daughter. He requested the minimum allowable sentence of two to four years in prison. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to be a part of her life,\u201d said Richard. \u201cEven a difference of six months or a year is significant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruiz \u2014 clad Thursday in a beige sweatsuit, goatee and short fade haircut \u2014 declined to say anything before being sentenced. Family members watched quietly from the gallery and offered quiet farewells as he was escorted out of the courtroom. <\/p>\n

Criminal past, dangerous crew: D.A. <\/p>\n

In 2021, Ruiz was convicted of attempted possession of a weapon and sentenced to two years in prison. <\/p>\n

In the current assault case, prosecutors submitted at trial that it was in retaliation for a prior incident. They said Ruiz\u2019s friends and the victim\u2019s friends were all fighting at a local bar. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors also have suggested Ruiz ran with a dangerous group of friends, saying a key witness refused to testify out of fear for their safety. <\/p>\n

\u2018Settling the score:\u2019 D.A.<\/p>\n

Police said it was about 7:30 p.m. on a frigid evening in February 2024 when officers stationed in a marked NYPD vehicle on Port Richmond Avenue in Port Richmond were alerted by a woman about a fight down the block.<\/p>\n

Upon arrival, they found the victim with a stab wound to his back. Body-worn camera footage presented at trial showed the victim standing next to a woman as he spoke with officers. The wound was visible, dripping blood onto the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

Earlier that day, prosecutors said, Ruiz showed up to the barbershop where the victim worked to \u201csettle the score\u201d for the bar fight. <\/p>\n

The defendant \u2014 who stands approximately 6 feet tall with an athletic build \u2014 was seen in video surveillance footage throwing a flurry of punches and kicks. <\/p>\n

Following the trial, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon issued a statement saying Ruiz is a \u201cdangerous recidivist\u201d who was \u201cbrought to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMahon went on to thank prosecutors in the Narcotics-Investigations Bureau and members of the NYPD for their work in pursuing a conviction. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 A man found guilty recently of staking out and assaulting a local barber learned his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-94867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}