About three months ago, we told you how the men accused of the heinous murder of 71-year-old "Don Ramon" Cervantes Sr. decided to plead guilty to the crime before they began facing a full Supreme Court Trial. Tonight, news out of the Orange Walk Supreme Court is that one of the accused men has been sentenced to life in prison.
He is Noe Gamaliel Gonzalez Avila, who pleaded guilty to the charge of murder. Justice Herbert Lord has sentenced him to life imprisonment. The others are Angel Antonio Cardenas and Mateo Pott Jr., who both pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Justice Lord has sentenced both to 21 years in jail for their involvement in Ramon Senior's kill.
The presiding judge gave his ruling today after hearing all submissions from the prosecution and the defense.
Noe Gonzalez was the first of the three accused to receive the judge's verdict. In his case, Justice Lord noted that he had a long list of aggravating factors against him. Among those was his decision to wait eight years to make a guilty plea. So, the judge could offer him no benefit of a reduction in his sentence for finally accepting guilt. So, he was sentenced to life in prison, with eligibility for parole after a fixed term of 26 years in jail. He has already spent eight years on remand, which will be deducted from his fixed time. So, after 18 more years, he can apply to the Prison's Parole Board. His admission to parole is not automatic after that total amount of time.
Next up were Angel Cardenas and Mateo Pott, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter. For their sentence, the judge pointed out the gruesome nature of the crime. Back in June of 2014, Ramon Cervantes Sr. was kidnapped from his farm, beaten to death, and his body was buried in a shallow grave three and a half miles down the Honey camp road and about five miles from Orange Walk Town. With their guilty plea, both men have officially conceded to participating in this crime, which the judge categorized as borderline murder.
That's why the judge sentenced them to 21 years in prison. However, they have already spent eight years on remand, which will be deducted. That means they must spend an additional 13 years in jail before being released.
