A Bronx, New York gangbanger who was cut loose by a judge only to allegedly murder an innocent man months later is out of jail again.
17-year-old Steven Mendez accused of shooting 21-year-old Saikou Koma in the head during a botched gang hit in Fordham Heights last year, was set free Tuesday when Supreme Court Justice Naita Semaj dismissed the indictment against him, the Bronx District Attorney’s office confirmed.
Semaj gave prosecutors leave to present their case in front of a grand jury, which by law must happen within 45 days. The DA’s office had no further comment.
Koma’s distraught mother, Haja Kaira, said she broke down in tears while streaming Mendez’s court appearance.
“When I hear the judge say, ‘Release him.’ To be honest, I had to stand up,” Kaira said. “I could not believe it. I said out loud, ‘What! Release him?!’”
“The judge believes my son’s life means nothing,” Kaira went on. “This is why they will keep killing because they know there are no consequences.”
The grieving mom said an assistant district attorney who had sent her the link to watch the court proceeding had been seeking life in prison for Mendez before he was freed.
“If not that, he was trying to get the maximum sentence,” Kaira said. “But then the judge just let him free that minute.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what led to the judge’s decision. The Office of Court Administration didn’t respond to an email from The Post on Wednesday.
Even before his guilty plea, Mendez had at least three previous run-ins with the law — including a 2019 case where he allegedly pulled a loaded gun on his own mother. Mendez, allegedly angry after his mother refused to give him money, slapped her with an open hand then pointed a .357 at her, sources said.
His guilty plea came after he was charged for his role as an accomplice in a violent July 17, 2020 robbery in The Bronx that left the victim with a gunshot wound to leg, sources said. Mendez faced charges of first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and felony gun-possession charges.
The then-16-year-old Mendez was prosecuted as a “youthful offender” in that case and had temporarily been placed in a non-secure facility pending sentencing.
But in May 2021, then-Bronx Supreme Court Justice Denis Boyle granted him five years probation. Prosecutors objected to that decision after they sought up to four years, which would’ve been the maximum allowed under youthful offender status.
Police investigate the scene of a shooting
Mendez is accused of shooting 21-year-old Saikou Koma in the head in Fordham Heights.
William Miller
Boyle had cited a report that said Mendez was performing well in school, The Post reported at the time. A state court spokesman said at the time the judge didn’t think that a prison sentence was appropriate for “a crime committed as an accomplice at the age of 16.”
Youthful offender status for people between 16 and 19 years old means they can get reduced sentenced and sealed criminal records.
On October 24, Mendez and other reputed gangbangers allegedly sought payback for a beatdown of one of their own members. They came upon Koma on Ryer Avenue on Fordham Heights in what sources said was likely a case of mistaken identity.
Mendez was the trigger man who fatally shot Koma in the head, sources said. Two others were arrested related to the shooting of Koma, a college student.
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