The illegal immigrant accused of setting fire to a sleeping woman inside a New York subway car has pleaded not guilty.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, appeared in court in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning wearing an orange jumpsuit while being arraigned on murder and arson charges related to the killing of 57-year-old Debrina Kawam.
Prosecutors say Zapeta set the New Jersey woman on fire on a train stopped at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station on December 22.
Zapeta then fanned the flames with a shirt before sitting on the platform bench and watching Kawam burn, they allege.
The court hearing lasted only five minutes and the next court date is set for March 12.
Law enforcement sources told The New York Post after his arrest for the murder that he claimed he was drunk and did not remember the incident.
Footage of the moments after the Kawam fire went viral, showing an NYPD officer walking past the fire while a man, believed to be Zepeta, watched.
Zapeta appears in Kings County Supreme Court for an arraignment on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, in New York.
Zapeta then fanned the flames with a shirt before sitting on the platform bench and watching Kawam, seen here, burn.
NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference that responding officers did not know the suspect was on the scene at the time.
Hours later, the NYPD released footage of the suspect, showing him watching his victim burn to death before casually walking away from the scene.
Zapeta eventually boarded the subway later that day and was arrested after high school students pointed him out and recognized him from the images.
ICE officials said Zapeta entered the United States illegally from Guatemala in 2018 and was deported, but re-entered the country sometime later.
The incident quickly became part of the national debate over the dramatic increase in crimes committed by illegal immigrants in the United States.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams came forward after Zepeta’s arrest to call for federal prosecutors to charge him along with the state charges.
Sebastián Zapeta-Calil appears sitting on a subway bench watching the woman he set on fire burn alive
“Setting another human being on fire and watching them burn alive reflects a level of evil that cannot be tolerated,” he said in a statement.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez responded that he wanted the case to remain under state jurisdiction.
“First-degree murder carries the possibility of life in prison without parole,” he said, noting that it was “more significant in state court than it is currently in federal court.”
“We firmly believe this case belongs in state court,” he said. “We have a very strong working relationship with our federal partners and, of course, we will always do what is in the best interest” of the case.