Man pleads guilty to shooting another man over stolen items
MOSES LAKE, Wash. — UPDATE: Margarito Leyva, who is now 28-years-old, has pleaded guilty to shooting and killing 38-year-old Juan Manuel Gonzalez, Jr. in 2015 over a stolen Seahawks jersey and portable speaker.
Levya pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree on Monday. Levya had initially been charged with murder in the first degree, but the charge was lessened as part of a plea agreement.
Prosecutors indicated several witnesses were uncooperative.
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A 38-year-old Spokane man died after being shot at a Moses Lake apartment.
Grant County Sheriff’s deputies went to Samaritan Hospital on Friday night after Juan Manuel Gonzalez, Jr. arrived there with a gunshot wound to the chest. He had been driven to the ER in a private vehicle. He was flown by MedStar to a Spokane hospital where he later died.
Deputies learned the shooting happened at the College Apartments in Moses Lake.
Deputies seized the car which was used to drive the victim to the hospital and other evidence. They then looked for Margarito Leyva, 26, who was wanted for homicide in connection to Gonzalez’s death.
Leyva was taken into custody around 9:00 p.m. Sunday at the Knight’s Inn in Pasco, Wash. He was arrested without incident.
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