The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Jury gets Painesville Township murder case
No matter how you look at it, Timothy Markel Gaston is guilty of causing the death of 23-yearold Matthew “Matty” Hammond, Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Paul Kaplan said.
“There is very strong evidence to show the defendant is the person who actually shot Matthew Hammond in the face,” Kaplan said in his closing argument June 5 in Lake County Common Pleas Court.
At the very least, Gaston helped another male beat the victim even if he wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger, Kaplan said.
“His DNA is on the outside door handle,” the prosecutor added.
In addition, Kaplan noted that Gaston is seen on a Painesville apartment building surveillance video minutes before the shooting wearing clothing that matches
the description given by the victim’s girlfriend — who witnessed the shooting.
The girlfriend, 24-yearold Katalina Mudrick, previously testified that two men burst into her boyfriend’s Painesville Township trailer shortly before 4 a.m. on July 26, 2013.
Gaston admits he went to the home with two other males with the intention of robbing the victim, who was a marijuana dealer.
However, the 29-yearold Knoxville, Tennessee, man claims he was not the shooter and fled on foot after things unexpectedly got violent.
Defense attorney Paul H. Hentemann did not call Gaston or any other witnesses to the stand.
A jury began deliberating the case June 5.
Gaston faces life in prison if convicted of aggravated murder and 14 other counts.
Nobody else has been charged in the case.
Hentemann told the jury they must first determine whether or not Gaston conspired with anyone.
“No one’s names were ever really mentioned as to who these (co-conspirators) were,” the defense attorney said.
“The state is saying he acted in complicity with a principal offender. But we don’t know who the principal offender is! I suggest to you that they have failed dramatically in showing you who the shooter was.”
Hentemann also cautioned about relying too much on the girlfriend’s testimony since she is an admitted heroin addict.
In addition, he argued that neither Gaston’s blood nor his fingerprints were found on the victim, inside the home or in the getaway car.
Hentemann also told the jury not to trust a state witness who testified June 5.
That witness, a 34-yearold man who is currently incarcerated on robbery charges, testified that Gaston confessed to the murder while the two were housed together at Lake County Jail.
“We were both from Painesville. He asked me what I was in here for. I told him robbery. I asked him and he said, ‘I caught a body,’ ” the inmate said on the stand. “He asked me if I knew where the trailer park was in Painesville Township. He said that him and his (friends) went
The jury deliberated for a short time and will reconvene on June 6.
to the trailer park and hit a lick (robbed somebody). He said he had to hit the white boy with the hammer because he wouldn’t give it up. He said he had got rid of the gun — threw it in the river — before he got into the city.”
The inmate admitted he has an agreement with prosecutors that in return for his truthful testimony against Gaston, the state will recommend six years in prison in his pending robbery case. The state previously recommended he serve 10 years.
Hentemann dismissed that witness as a career criminal who is only looking to save himself four years in prison.
“You’re a snitch, aren’t you, and you’re a lying piece of crap,” the defense attorney said during crossexamination.
The jury deliberated for a short time and will reconvene on June 6. The case is being heard before Judge Vincent A. Culotta.