Leury Mojica was sentenced to 108 months in prison by United States District Judge Carol Bagley Amon in Brooklyn federal court for assaulting a federal correction officer and attempting to murder another inmate while incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC-Brooklyn). Mojica pleaded guilty in April 2025 to assaulting a federal officer. As part of his plea agreement, he admitted to attempting to murder a fellow inmate and agreed that this conduct would be considered during sentencing.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office, announced the sentence.
“Today’s sentence makes clear that there are serious consequences for inmates who endanger the safety and security of the Metropolitan Detention Center by committing acts of violence against correction officers and other inmates,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Holding incarcerated individuals accountable for their conduct will deter other inmates from engaging in crimes and dangerous conduct in the jail.”
Nocella also thanked the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for their assistance with the investigation.
“Leury Mojica physically restrained a fellow inmate to allow others to commence a brutal knife attack and continued his aggressive outbursts with an unprovoked assault against a correction officer. Mojica’s combative streak recklessly endangered the lives of other inmates and correction officers. May today’s sentencing deter any detainee from grossly violating law and order in our federal detention centers through violent misconduct,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia.
Court documents indicate that Mojica was arraigned in February 2022 on robbery charges in the Southern District of New York and ordered detained at MDC-Brooklyn pending trial. On February 28, 2023, Mojica participated with five other inmates in an attempted murder involving a knife attack on another inmate. He restrained the victim while another individual stabbed him, resulting in multiple injuries including lacerations and puncture wounds.
Later, on August 24, 2024, while still at MDC-Brooklyn, Mojica punched a federal correction officer after being asked if he wanted fruit with his breakfast. The officer sustained facial injuries as a result.
Assistant United States Attorney David Berman is leading the prosecution.
The defendant is identified as Leury Mojica, age 22, from Bronx, New York.
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-13 (CBA)
