Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Gary DeToma, Sr. Sentenced to LWOP in 2010 GA Slaying of 5-Year-Old Son

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217

    Gary DeToma, Sr. Sentenced to LWOP in 2010 GA Slaying of 5-Year-Old Son

    July 20, 2010

    DEKALB COUNTY, GA -- The death penalty will be sought against a Decatur man accused of killing one of his sons and trying to kill another.

    Gary DeToma Sr. is charged with the murder of 5-year-old Gary DeToma Jr. and aggravated assault on 4-year-old Will DeToma.

    A grand jury met in the case Tuesday morning.

    Decatur Police say one of the dad's co-workers had gone to check on Gary Sr. after he didn't show up for work last Monday. Once inside the family apartment on East Lake Drive, police say the coworker found Gary Sr. in the same room as Gary Jr., who appeared to be dead already. Police say the boy may have been suffocated and his brother Will had also been attacked.

    Will has been placed in the care of his mother, Melanie DeToma. County court records show she had been battling Gary Sr. over custody of their children.


    http://www.11alive.com/rss/rss_story.aspx?storyid=147132

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    On 12/17/10 superior court Judge Scott ordered the state of Georgia, and the defendant to file all motions by May 02, 2011. He also set a motions hearing for June 20, 2011.

    http://www.ojs.dekalbga.org

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    A father who suffocated his 5-year-old son apparently to get back at his soon-to-be ex-wife will spend the rest of his life in prison, never to be paroled.

    Gary DeToma said nothing in court Tuesday other than to plead guilty to murdering Gary Jr. and trying to kill his younger son, Will, to avoid a possible death penalty if convicted at trial.

    District Attorney Robert James said DeToma's ex-wife Melanie Roberts was satisfied with the decision, especially considering that DeToma accepted responsibility for murdering their son and trying to kill their other son, who was 4 at the time, in July 2010.

    As was part of the agreement, Gary DeToma, now 44, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; he had been given until June 1 to decide or James was moving forward with a death penalty trial.

    "It’s a resolution," James said after the guilty plea. "Nobody wins. You've got a child who has lost his life and is no longer with us, and was killed in a horrible fashion; he was suffocated. You've got a father who is going to prison for the rest of his life, without parole, who never again will never be a father to his surviving son. You've got a mother grieving for the life of her child."

    And Gary DeToma's family is grieving as well, James noted.

    "It's a tragic situation," he said.

    James said the only explanations for the murder he expected to be presented at trial was Gary DeToma had suffered a head injury at work that may have altered his thinking and he was frustrated with the failure of his marriage and the tenor of the divorce proceedings.

    After a weekend visit with his two sons almost two years ago, Gary DeToma made a terrible decision.

    Until then, neighbors said they saw Gary DeToma as a loving father who would skip work to take his sons to the park, who took them on trips to visit their grandparents. The Sunday night before Gary Jr. was killed, neighbors saw Gary Sr. outside his Decatur apartment watching his sons riding their bikes.

    But on that Monday morning, July 12, 2010, Gary DeToma's truck was parked outside his apartment hours after he usually went to his job as an electrician. And he did not bring his son's to his mother-in-law, as was the temporary agreement with his estranged wife while their divorce was pending; it was "not a good divorce," one of the attorneys said at the time.

    The police were called but no one answered the door at Gary DeToma's apartment. The property manager said she was not authorized to open the door.

    Later that day, one of Gary DeTom'as co-workers came to the Decatur apartment to check on him. When his knocks went unanswered, the co-worker put an extension ladder against the building so he could look through one of the bedroom windows.

    Police said that is when he saw Gary Jr.'s body on a bed. The co-worker, who was never named, was able to persuade Will DeToma, still in his pajamas, to open the door. Gary DeToma was reportedly inside the apartment with Will and Gary Jr.'s body.

    http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/fathe...o-1438145.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  4. #4
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Father who pleaded guilty to killing son wants to withdraw confession

    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

    Gary DeToma was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison after he pleaded guilty to suffocating his 5-year-old son. Now he’s trying to convince the Georgia Supreme Court to allow him to withdraw that confession.

    Prosecutors say DeToma killed his son, Gary Jr., in 2010 to apparently get back at his estranged wife while their divorce was pending. DeToma pleaded guilty to the crime in May 2012 to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2012.

    A month later, though, DeToma had second thoughts and tried to withdraw that guilty plea. His attorney said in court motions that DeToma had buckled to “unrelenting pressure to plead guilty” from his previous lawyer, who brought his mother and brother in from New York to try to convince DeToma why the guilty plea was in his best interest.

    The Georgia Supreme Court will weigh the case Monday after a judge denied that motion to withdraw. DeToma’s attorneys concede in court filings that “a death sentence may have been nearly certain,” but said he may have had other legitimate reasons to go to trial.

    “Nelson Mandela, for example, went to trial, admitted guilt, and explicitly announced at trial that he was prepared to die for his cause,” his attorneys said in briefs, invoking the late South African civil rights icon. “We do not think less of him today for having done so.”

    Prosecutors urged the Georgia Supreme Court to reject DeToma’s claim. They said in court documents that the evidence against him was “overwhelming and undeniable” and that the legal record shows that DeToma entered his guilty plea voluntarily and without coercion.

    “Of course he struggled with the decision,” the state argued in its legal pleading. “But ‘changing your mind’ is not a legally valid reason to withdraw an otherwise knowing and voluntarily entered plea.”

    http://www.ajc.com/news/news/father-...nts-to-/ngBMP/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •