14-Year-Old Kid Was Shot and Killed Father Receives 28 Years to Life Sentence
By TheNevadaGlobeStaff, November 16, 2022 11:18 am
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (702 Times, NV Globe) – A father sentenced to 28 years to life in jail on Wednesday for killing shooting his homosexual son because of his sexual orientation, according to his family.
In May, a Clark County jury convicted Wendell Melton guilty of first-degree murder and child abuse, neglect, or endangerment in the November 2017 gunshot death of his son, Giovanni, 14, in his Henderson residence.
While family members claim the struggle between father and son was caused by the boy’s homosexuality, Melton stated on Wednesday that “my son Giovanni being gay did not cost him his life. “I’m sorry… when Giovanni died, a part of me died with him.
”The boy’s mother, Veronica Melton, read a statement in court: “The murderer wasn’t a bank robber, a thug it was his biological father.”
Prosecutors claim that on Nov. 2, 2017, Wendell Melton went to confront his son at the apartment where the kid resided alone.
Prosecutors said Melton shot Giovanni on purpose, but defense counsel claimed Melton carried a pistol because he was terrified of his kid. Those attorneys also claimed that the pistol inadvertently discharged during a scuffle.
Previously, court filings showed the family’s troubled background, including a continuing custody struggle for Giovanni and his sister, which involved being abandoned by their mother, as well as Wendell Melton unlawfully possessing firearms and threatening his family with them.
Credits: 8NewsNow
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