N.Y. man known as ‘Midnight’ sentenced for fatal beating near a Chuck E. Cheese

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office announced the conviction of Dennis Ray, also known as Midnight, on April 7.

On April 22, 2022, Dennis Ray and his co-defendant, Tyrell Guthrie, severely beat 59-year-old Jose Osma behind a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant during the commission of a robbery, according to the DA.

Osma was found the following morning and taken to a hospital with severe injuries, but he had no identification on him and was admitted as a John Doe. His family issued a missing person report before tracking him down a few days later at the hospital. He died on April 30, 2023, due to complications from the injuries he sustained and the multiple surgeries he had undergone.

Ray was arrested and taken into custody on May 7, 2022, by the Nassau County Police Department.

According to District Attorney Anne Donnelly, “Jose Osma was beaten to within an inch of his life … and what followed was an endless cycle of brain surgeries, paralysis, rehab, and hospitalizations until Jose sadly succumbed to his extensive injuries a year later. Dennis Ray showed no remorse for his violent assault, even bragging minutes after the attack about the stolen money and the heinous crime he committed to get it. For days after the attack, Jose’s family did not know where he was or what had happened to him, and for a year after that, they were heartbreakingly forced to witness his tragic decline.”

Guthrie pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in November 2023 and was sentenced to 18 years behind bars on Jan. 29, 2024, per the DA.

WPIX reports Ray was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on May 20. The outlet reports Donnelly said, “Dennis Ray has never taken responsibility or showed any regret for the vicious beating he inflicted upon Jose Osma four years ago over a wallet and a cellphone. Jose’s children watched in anguish as their father suffered through a coma, paralysis, and multiple brain surgeries, unable to speak or feed himself until he finally died from his injuries.”