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Leon Gomez Convicted, Emerges Emotional From Court
posted (April 11, 2014)
22 year-old Leon Gomez is at prison tonight awaiting his sentencing hearing after he was convicted on Wednesday night of manslaughter in the courtroom of Justice Adolph Lucas. Gomez was charged with murder for the stabbing death of 27 year-old Salvador Martinez.

Viewers may remember that on January 18, 2010, at around 6 p.m., Ladyville Technical High School and Sadie Vernon High were having a football match on the MCC Grounds when a brawl broke out in the stands. Martinez tried to part the fight, and while he was trying to protect a friend, he got stabbed in the chest and abdomen area, which caused him to bleed out and die.

The main crown witness was one of the young men who was in the fight that day. He told the court that he had a misunderstanding with another man who grabbed his phone out of his hand, and while he was arguing with the person who took it away, he felt a pint bottle hit him across the head. That's when the fight broke out, and he saw Martinez fighting with Gomez. The fight stopped when someone shouted that police was coming, and when he looked over, he saw that Martinez was suffering from multiple stab wounds. The prosecution, led by Crown Counsel Portia Staine, also got Gomez's caution statement admitted into evidence. He told police in that statement that he was fighting with a man who he stabbed in the hand to release him. Gomez said that when the man released him, he ran away.

In his defence, Gomez told the court that indeed he was in a fight that day, and that as he told police, he only stabbed a man in the hand.

After deliberating for over 4 hours, the jury emerged and delivered a verdict of not guilty for murder, but guilty for the lesser charge of manslaughter. His attorney, Alifa Elrington-Hyde, asked for time to prepare a mitigation plea, which Justice Lucas granted, setting aside May 12 for that hearing.

When Gomez exited court to be escorted, he was physically distraught, and he aggressed the photo-journalists for taking his photograph, and he had to be restrained by his family members and police. While in tears, he protested his innocence all the way to the police mobile which took him away.

Of Important note, is that, Leon Gomez is the brother of convicted rapist, Leroy Gomez, who is serving a prison sentence for rape after his second Appeal failed.

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