A Suffolk County, N.Y., jury on Monday convicted the business partner of a Long Island lawyer who was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Korean restaurant in October 2008 for arranging the hit. Ronald Thornton of Nesconset, N.Y., was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the death of James DiMartino, who worked for Nationwide Court Services.
Thornton had constructed an elaborate plot to kill DiMartino, including conspiring with a stripper to recruit two Queens men to carry out the killing for $8,000. One of the men, Darnell Festus, shot DiMartino in the head outside the Commack restaurant during the ambush, according to prosecutors.
