Two To Be Sentenced In Gowdy Murder Case

By Andrew Gorosko

DANBURY – Two men convicted in the July 1999 shooting death of 15-year-old Jason Gowdy of Sandy Hook are scheduled for sentencing on Tuesday, May 29, in Danbury Superior Court.

Ruperto Lugo, 21, of Stratford, and Alejandro Melendez, 21, of Bridgeport have been convicted in the case.

On April 17, a 12-member jury convicted Lugo of felony murder, attempted first-degree robbery, carrying a pistol without a permit, and possession of weapon in a motor vehicle. Lugo faces a life sentence on the felony murder conviction. In a felony murder, a person commits a robbery or other felony against a person, and in the course of the crime, he causes the death of that person.

The jury convicted Melendez of carrying a pistol without a permit and possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle. Melendez, who was charged as an accessory in the case, was not convicted on charges of felony murder or attempted first-degree robbery. Neither man was convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery.

Danbury Superior Court Judge Gary White will hand down the sentences. Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Devin Stilson is the prosecutor. Public defender Paul Eschuk represents Lugo. Private attorney Gary Mastronardi is the lawyer for Melendez.

Lugo was being held this week in Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown where he is serving a three-year sentence on a conviction for assault on a correction officer.

Melendez was being held on a $1 million bond in Bridgeport Correctional Center awaiting sentencing in connection with the Gowdy murder.

In reaching their verdicts, the jurors apparently decided that although Melendez had provided Lugo with the gun that Lugo had used to shoot Gowdy, Melendez did not plan to participate in the robbery that led to Gowdy’s murder.

According to testimony at the murder trial, Mary Pires, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, had urged Lugo, Melendez, Barbara Carleton and Alexis Barnett to travel from Bridgeport to Sandy Hook with her on the evening of July 10, 1999, in order to trick people out of marijuana.

When the group of five, traveling in a black 1989 Chevrolet Beretta coupe, approached Mr Gowdy and his friends, Brandon Jossick and Matt Haight, at the intersection of Riverside Road and Cherry Street in Sandy Hook about 8 pm, Pires, who knew the boys, urged the people in the Chevrolet to pull the car over to seek drugs from the three youths.

A key aspect of the jury deliberations apparently was determining whether, in the course of a confrontation, Lugo was seeking “change” from an alleged marijuana transaction, as was claimed by Lugo, or whether Lugo was seeking to steal a gold chain Mr Gowdy was wearing around his neck, as was claimed by other witnesses.

Although the jury decided Lugo was seeking to steal the gold chain, it apparently did not believe that Melendez had conspired with Lugo to do so. In such cases, either both people are guilty of conspiracy, or no one is guilty of the crime, due to the nature of conspiracy.

In testimony during the murder trial, Lugo acknowledged that he had shot Mr Gowdy, but said that he did not intentionally shoot him.

After Lugo pulled the pistol on Mr Gowdy, a scuffle followed in which Mr Gowdy sought to disarm Lugo, but the gun discharged, sending two bullets from the .380 semiautomatic pistol into Mr Gowdy’s head at close range, killing him.

Police arrested Lugo and Melendez three days after the shooting. Both men were 19 at the time. At the trial, the state dropped charges of committing a felony with a firearm against the two men. Before the trial, the state had offered plea bargains to both defendants, which they did not accept.

Jason Gowdy had lived with his father, David Gowdy, with Mr Gowdy’s wife, and with his two stepsisters on Pine Street in Sandy Hook. Jason Gowdy was a student at Henry Abbott Regional Technical School in Danbury.