One of three men charged in the stabbing death of a 29-year-old Cathedral City man was sentenced today to 16 years in prison.
(Flickr/Stock Monkeys)
Jaime Eliazar Gonzalez, 32, pleaded guilty last month to one count each of voluntary manslaughter and robbery.
Gonzalez and co-defendants Edward Lee Anderson, 28, and Tannor Joseph Sweet, 19, were all charged with murder in the death of T’mon Lawson, who was found with three stab wounds to the chest.
Gonzalez was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the killing and robbery and four years in prison for pleading guilty to having drugs and alcohol in jail in a separate case.
Anderson and Sweet pleaded guilty in January to one count of voluntary manslaughter and were both immediately sentenced to 11 years in prison.
At Gonzalez’s sentencing hearing, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Graham A. Cribbs said he’d read four letters from Lawson’s family members but did not read them aloud.
On Sept. 18, 2011, someone reported a fight involving several people at the Creekside Apartment complex in the 68200 block of 33rd Avenue, about a mile from where Lawson’s body was found, Cathedral City police Sgt. Dave Hatfield said.
“Officers arrived on scene and located an area where a disturbance occurred,” Hatfield said. “The investigation continued, as it was learned that a possible victim was driven away from the scene in an SUV.”
Investigators found Lawson’s body in the 32500 block of Candlewood Drive in Cathedral City later that night.
The suspects were arrested within a few days and Hatfield said police found evidence implicating them when they served search warrants at their residences.
Investigators were unable to determine a motive for the crime, said Deputy District Attorney Pete Nolan.
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