An appeals court on Wednesday vacated a Mercer County man’s murder conviction after finding the judge did not tell the jury it could consider convicting him of manslaughter, instead.
The prosecutor’s case against Michael Owens was that he was impassioned when he went looking for the victim, Luis X. Gonzalez, in July 2020 because he suspected Gonzales had sold his girlfriend heroin.
Owens found Gonzalez, 45 minutes after fighting with his girlfriend about it, and assaulting her, and fatally shot 37-year-old Gonzalez from a vehicle on South Broad Street in Trenton.
The jury, though, should have been told they could convict Owens of passion/provocation manslaughter in a process called a “lesser-included offense.”
That was unfair to Owens, an appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision, calling it plain error that could have led the jury to an unjust result. The judge was not named in the decision; records show it was Janetta Marbrey.
Owens, now 32, was serving a 45-year prison term with a mandatory minimum of 38 years behind bars.
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office declined to immediately comment on the decision, as it had just received it, an office spokesperson said Wednesday.
Kevin Scott Finckenauer, an assistant deputy public defender, argued the case for Owens.
The appeals judges did not overturn the entire case. They vacated the murder and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose charge for which he was convicted, as well as a theft charge.
They left intact an unlawful possession of a handgun without a permit charge, and an aggravated assault charge but ordered Owens be resentenced on those counts.
The case against Owens included two separate incidents.
First, Owens assaulted his girlfriend during the argument, in Hamilton, and stole her cell phone (resulting in the theft charge), which is where he found Gonzalez’s contact information.
Then he hopped into his girlfriend’s car allegedly went after and shot Gonzalez after calling him multiple times from his girlfriend’s phone.
The dissenting judge, Robert Gilson, disagreed with his colleagues, judges Adam Jacobs and Patrick DeAlmeida, finding four reasons they should not have vacated Owens’ murder conviction.
He wrote: “First, Gonzalez did not provoke defendant. Second, to the extent that defendant was ever passionately provoked, he had ample time to cool off before he shot Gonzalez. Third, we review this jury instruction issue for plain error, and I see none. Finally, our jurisprudence is based on the sound principle that a jury verdict should be respected, and I do not see clear grounds for vacating defendant’s murder conviction.”
Stories by Kevin Shea
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