Police said Gautier was shot in the face at point-blank range by a single blast from a sawed-off shotgun..
Steven GonzalezSPRINGFIELD – Moments after the jury found Steven Gonzalez guilty of murder today in a execution-style killing on Locust Street in 2008, the defendant rolled his eyes and managed a wry smile.
After 1½ days of deliberations, jurors found Gonzalez, 31, of Springfield, guilty of first-degree murder, possessing a sawed-off shotgun, and possessing a firearm without an ID card. He was acquitted on another firearm possession charge.
Despite facing a mandatory life prison sentence, Gonzalez accepted the verdicts with composure, even as a court officer handcuffed him as the verdicts were being read.
But a few minutes later, as Judge Mary Lou Rup was discussing the next step in the case, Gonzalez delivered an explosive kick to the defense table – causing court officers to haul him from the courtroom as a family member sitting in the gallery began to wail.
Given the outburst, the judge continued the deliberations, including a decision on when the sentence will be imposed, until Monday.
Gonzalez was charged with the fatal shotgun shooting of Alexander Gautier on Locust Street on Oct. 17, 2008.
Police said he was shot in the face at point-blank range by a single blast from a 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun. During the trial, a state police chemist said Gonzalez’s DNA was found on the gun’s grip and trigger.
He was arrested three weeks after the shooting in Syracuse, N.Y. At trial, Gonzalez testified that he was with his girlfriend in Connecticut on Oct. 17, 2008, and was not even aware that Gautier had returned to Springfield from Puerto Rico.
Gonzalez acknowledged that he was a heroin addict at the time of the killing, but said denied he was a dealer.
A prosecution witness testified that Gautier had returned from Puerto Rico to take control of the heroin trade in the Locust Street neighborhood.
Gautier was the father of Jeremy Rosario Millan, a 3-year-old boy who was tortured, raped and beaten to death by a 12-year-old in 2004 while in the care of a baby-sitter.
The 12-year-old was placed in custody of the Department of Youth Services until his 18th birthday and his mother was sentenced to nine years in prison for failing to stop the abuse.