EGN NEWS DESK
A Riverside jury deliberated barely a day earlier than discovering Melvin Mario James Landry, 42, of San Jacinto responsible of killing Gilbert Wah in 2020. Along with homicide, the panel convicted Landry of sentence-enhancing gun and nice bodily damage allegations.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz scheduled a sentencing listening to for July 19 on the Riverside Hall of Justice. Landry is being held with out bail on the Robert Presley Jail.
In January, a Banning jury deliberated two days earlier than deadlocking on the homicide and different costs, solely discovering the defendant responsible of being a felon in possession of a firearm. That led to the District Attorney’s Office transferring ahead with retrying the case.
According to an company trial transient, on the evening of July 23, 2020, Wah, his spouse, Octavia Wah, and Landry acquired collectively on the sufferer’s home at 801 S. Camino Los Banos to “drink alcohol and smoke marijuana.”
The protection stated in its transient Landry was within the midst of a divorce from his spouse, Sylvia Joshua, as a result of “he was caught dishonest” on her. He was additionally struggling despair from the latest dying of his mom.
As he, the sufferer and Octavia drank and smoked lengthy into the evening, tensions escalated as a result of Gilbert Wah’s references to Landry as a “pussy” and “bitch” — phrases used to explain the defendant’s relationship together with his spouse, based on the prosecution’s transient.
Shortly after 3 a.m. on July 24, Wah turned aggressive, slapping Landry throughout the face. The defendant didn’t hit again, however as an alternative went to his Dodge Durango pickup parked close by, grabbed a semiautomatic handgun, then returned to the home and confronted Wah, firing a single shot into his coronary heart, prosecutors stated.
The sufferer died on the spot.
His spouse struck Landry and tried to cease him from leaving, however he acquired away from her. She referred to as 911, and patrol deputies converged on the placement. Sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Thurm stated as personnel have been gearing as much as start a search, Landry “returned to the scene and surrendered.”
The defendant has a previous misdemeanor conviction in Riverside County for driving beneath the affect. He has a felony conviction in one other jurisdiction, however the offense wasn’t listed.
Court papers indicated Wah, too, had a file, together with battery on a peace officer in one other state, in addition to a fraud conviction domestically.
