Jury finds defendant guilty of murder & gun charges

Submitted by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office 

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announced a jury has found 32-year-old Cortez Foster of Buffalo guilty of one count of murder in the second degree (class “A-I” felony) and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (class “C” violent felony). Jurors rendered their decision Wednesday afternoon after approximately two-and-a-half hours of deliberation following a five-day trial, convicting the defendant of all charges in the indictment against him.

On March 14, 2021, at approximately 4:31 a.m., the defendant approached the victim who was sitting inside of a vehicle parked on the 200 block of Johnson Street in the City of Buffalo. The defendant intentionally fired multiple shots at the victim with an illegal gun. The victim, 29-year-old Marcus Spain, was taken by ambulance to ECMC where he later died.

Foster faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced before Erie County Court Judge Suzanne Maxwell Barnes on Thursday, April 13, at 9:30 a.m. He continues to be held without bail.

A co-defendant, who was indicted as an accomplice to the crime, was acquitted of the charges, and the case was automatically sealed by operation of law.

Flynn commended Det. Scott Malec and Det. Mark White of the Buffalo Police Department for their work in this investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Eugene T. Partridge III of the homicide unit, and Assistant District Attorney Timothy J. Garvin of the narcotics/intelligence unit.