A Queens teen has pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing her half-brother with a kitchen knife after an argument over a cell phone escalated into a physical fight earlier this year. Yocairis Diaz, 18, will get five years in jail as part of her plea deal for killing 20-year-old Frank Fortuna. “These were tragic and delicate circumstances,” said prosecutor Debra Pomodore, who added that this was “the most just outcome” after meeting with Diaz and her family, who had “asked for leniency.”
The incident happened on Sept. 7 in their Woodhaven home around 5:30 p.m. after Fortuna tried to take Diaz’s cell phone. Sources had told the Post that Fortuna picked up a dog chain and Diaz pulled a knife—Diaz also said that her brother had strangled her at one point. Before the stabbing, Diaz had frantically called 911 and said, “If you don’t get here fast, I’m going to kill this guy!”
At the time, neighbor Bryant Aracena said this was par for the course for the family: “When they fought, you could hear the walls shake and furniture being slammed around...It got to the point where the brothers came out into the street and got into a few fistfights.” Diaz's father, Jose, had also said she was just acting in self-defense: “She just got tired of being abused by him."
