No bail for ex-convict and buddy accused of killing sneaker reseller “Upscale Cracc”

A Manhattan judge denied bail to two men accused of stalking and shooting a prominent sneaker salesman, saying the murder charges against them were “the most serious charges that can be brought against a person in this state.”

Judge Michele Rodney was not swayed by the arguments of a lawyer or the presence of the parents of one of the defendants accused of gunning down the victim, 31-year-old Javier Osorio-Mejia, on a SoHo street in June.

According to police, Osorio-Mejia's killers followed him in a rental car with stolen license plates from a Queens strip club just to steal the flashy jewelry he had bragged about on Instagram.

“In planning these crimes, steps were taken to conceal their identities,” said Rachel Polisner, assistant district attorney in Manhattan.

She said the “meticulously planned” crime culminated with the shooting of Osorio-Mejia on the sidewalk. Osorio-Mejia was gunned down in the early morning hours after stopping his Range Rover on Greene Street near Grand Street in SoHo to use the bathroom.

The victim, known by the stage name “Upscale Cracc,” suffered a graze to the head and a gunshot wound to the leg and died from bleeding from the leg wound, authorities said.

Polisner said the crooks threw the injured Osorio-Mejia to the ground and then ransacked his body for more than 40 seconds, ripping his jewelry and a Rolex watch from his wrist.

Authorities charged 35-year-old Jayquan Straker and 28-year-old Marc Haygood with murder and robbery.

Haygood's parents traveled from north of Rochester for the court hearing.

Officials said Straker fired the gun after getting out of the car Haygood was driving. They fled the scene in the rental car.

“Marc Haygood and Jayquan Straker were planning a brutal murder when they followed Mr. Osorio-Mejia into Manhattan and stole jewelry from his body after shooting him,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “Mr. Osorio-Mejia was a well-known sneaker salesman, entrepreneur and father whose life was ended prematurely by this senseless tragedy.”

“I hope they rot in prison,” shouted a woman as the defendants left the courtroom.

Straker served time in prison for his role in an armed home invasion case in Brooklyn in 2010.

Authorities said Straker and an accomplice disguised as a FedEx employee entered a two-family home in Canarsie and forced several adults and children, including a 10-year-old and a six-year-old, to the ground at gunpoint.

One of the adult victims fought back, causing Straker to drop his weapon. The 10-year-old picked up the gun and shot at Straker, but missed. Straker's accomplice, who fired his own weapon during the altercation without hitting anyone, was never caught, prosecutors said.

Straker eventually pleaded guilty to burglary in the home invasion case.