Jerry Clayton Coad has been sentenced to five years in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the stabbing death of his friend at a south Windsor trailer park.
Richard Lemmon, 51, died from a single stab wound to the heart on May 15, 2012. It happened at Lemmon’s home at the Countryside Village trailer park on Marlin Avenue, where Coad also lived.
Coad will serve four more years in prison since he has already served a year.
“It was a difficult case from both the perspective of the crown and the defence," says defence lawyer Maria Carroccia. "The evidence relating to the offence was entirely circumstantial."
The court heard Coad called Lemmon his best friend and the day Lemmon had died, both the victim and accused had been drinking together.
Coad had previously told police an intruder stabbed Lemmon.
"I don't think it was a complete fabrication,” says Carroccia. “I think he thought that ‘somebody else must have done this because I couldn't have possibly done this to Richie.’"
Carroccia says Coad is remorseful.
"He is genuinely sorry about it,” says Carroccia. “You could hear that when he was talking to the family."
Lemmon’s sisters attended Tuesday’s hearing at the Superior Court of Justice.
"Alcoholism to me is a main factor in all of this and I hope someone learns from this,” says Lemmon’s sister Donna Diotte.
Lemmon’s other sister Shirley Lendorf says it was a fair sentence according to law.
“There's not much we can do about it,” says Lendorf. “Thank God it's over and it's done."