Sep 7, 2018 3 min read

“But by the grace of God,” an assistant district attorney said a New York City man was being sentenced to 4 to 8 years in prison on a charge of aggravated assault in Washington County Court instead of homicide.

Neither of victims – Alec Long or Danielle McGuire – who were shot Sept. 25, 2016, in Charleroi appeared before Judge Valarie Costanzo Thursday, and neither did they make a claim for restitution from Emmanuel “Mayo Stacks” Diaz, 24, who formerly lived in The Bronx.

Long suffered a bullet to the brain and McGuire had been shot in the jaw. He was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital for surgery and she was treated and released from Mon Valley Hospital, according to police.

“He understands that he could have killed this man,” Diaz’s court-appointed attorney, James Jeffries, commented during the proceeding.

Charleroi police originally charged Diaz with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and recklessly endangering other persons.

He pleaded guilty in June to one felony count of aggravated assault.

Probation Officer Rick Miller, who conducted a pre-sentence investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crime and the background of the defendant, outlined in court his attempts to make contact with the victims.

Diaz said he had, prior to his incarceration, often smoked marijuana, but he began attending church services while in jail. He expressed hope he would be able to return to New York and re-establish contact with his daughter.

“I was going through a lot with my baby’s mother,” Diaz told the judge as he and his attorney advocated for a mitigated sentence.

Precipitating the shooting was a dispute over marijuana that occurred in a parking lot in Monessen.

“I hope we never see Mr. Diaz in a courtroom again,” Jeffries concluded.

Assistant District Attorney John Friedmann, who withdrew all charges except for the single count of aggravated assault, said in court McGuire refused to testify during a pre-trial hearing, instead giving a statement that could be read into the record.

Rather than stand trial, Diaz chose to take responsibility for the crime, Jeffries said.

The judge ordered Diaz not to have any contact with the four victims, who were all from the Mon Valley.

Diaz in June of last year pleaded no contest to a charge of possessing drug paraphernalia in Westmoreland County Court last year and was given four months of probation without verdict. Monessen police were ordered to destroy the contraband, according to an online docket entry. It had been found in the Short Street home of his stepparents, with whom he had been staying.