Naman Shrestha
The episode titled ‘Nightclub Shooter or Mistaken Identity?’ of A&E’s ‘Accused: Guilty or Innocent?’ chronicles Miguel Bonilla’s link to the mysterious shooting outside a Long Island nightclub in September 2022. As he tried to prove his innocence, he enlisted the help of a Manhattan-based lawyer. Meanwhile, the prosecution gathered CCTV footage that incriminated him. When they charged him with evidence tampering, Miguel’s case became all the more complicated.
Miguel Bonilla Was Accused of Shooting Up a Club He Visited
Born on December 10, 1995, Miguel Bonilla was raised in the hamlet of Brentwood in Long Island, New York, alongside his sister, Zoyla, by their mother, Maria Bonilla. Growing up in a neighborhood with violence all around, Miguel claimed that his mother did her best to keep him sheltered and away from bad influence. For a while, he worked as a delivery partner to get by and provide for his two daughters, who lived with their mother, his ex-girlfriend. His life took an unexpected turn in the early hours of September 3, 2022, outside Club 112 in Central Islip. Around 1:15 am, the police received a 911 call informing them of multiple gunshots outside the club. During the shooting, the club’s bouncer suffered an injury to his finger.
A day later, the police tied Miguel to the crime and arrested him, charging him with first-degree assault. While Miguel Bonilla was behind bars, he made a few phone calls to Tania but didn’t clearly proclaim his innocence. He eventually got out on bond and went back to living at his mother’s place. While awaiting trial, he looked for a job and hired multiple attorneys before landing on Manhattan-based Samantha Chorny to defend him at trial. He told his defense attorney that on the evening of September 2, 2022, he went out to go drinking at multiple bars before arriving at Club 112 around 12:38 am. He had planned to meet his friend, Tania Herrera, at the club, but due to his intoxicated state, he left the club after about 30 minutes.
Prosecutors Alleged Miguel Bonilla Fabricated a Dashcam Footage to Support His Alibi
CCTV footage of the outside area of the club showed Miguel punching a guy before leaving the premises. About 25 minutes later, a shooter showed up and fired multiple rounds in the direction of the club, injuring the bouncer. Although the image of the shooter was not clear in the surveillance footage, the shirt worn by the shooter matched the soccer shirt Miguel was seen wearing that night. According to Tania, she found him away from Club 112 in an intoxicated state and drove him home. After the incident, the injured bouncer was interviewed for four hours, during which he claimed he hadn’t seen the face of the shooter, but identified Miguel from a photo lineup. However, as per the documentary, he had no gunshot residue on him and no prior convictions to his name. He also claimed that he owned no guns.
As Miguel was awaiting trial, he provided his defense counsel, including Samantha Chorny, with his dashcam footage, claiming that it corroborated his alibi of being away from the crime scene around the time of the shooting. The recording showed him outside his home in an intoxicated state around 1:41 am, which made it impossible for him to be at the shooting site a few minutes earlier. However, the case took an unexpected turn when Miguel was arrested at the airport after arriving on Long Island from his trip to Florida. The police accused him of giving falsified evidence and charged him with tampering with physical evidence. Thus, his trial was postponed.
Miguel Bonilla is Currently Incarcerated at a New York Prison
At Miguel Bonilla’s preliminary hearing, the prosecution claimed that the defendant fabricated the dashcam footage. The judge gave the defense time to analyze the prosecution’s evidence supporting their claims. Samantha and her team found that the manufacturing date of the dashcam was December 2023, more than a year after the 2022 shooting incident. Thus, the defense attorney resigned from Miguel’s case. In February 2025, a while before his scheduled trial, he pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and tampering with evidence. Consequently, he was sentenced to five years in prison. As of today, the 30-year-old convict is serving his sentence at Ulster Correctional Facility in Ulster County, New York, with his parole eligibility scheduled for June 2028.
Read More: Where is Christopher Martin Now? Accused Guilty or Innocent Update
You must be logged in to post a comment.