PoliceLink

Man pleads guilty to killing sheriff’s deputy

by Sandra Barbier, The Times-Picayune

Wednesday April 02, 2008, 8:42 PM

The man accused of killing St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office narcotics commander Capt. Octavio “Ox” Gonzalez in 2006 pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder and to attempted first degree-murder of a deputy.

Johnnie Lee Cheek, 33, was sentenced to life in prison for the June 16, 2006, murder of Gonzalez, 40, on a quiet residential street in LaPlace. Cheek was sentenced to another 50 years, the maximum allowed, for shooting and wounding Detective Monty Adams. Both incidents stemmed from a traffic stop on U.S. 51.

At a hearing Wednesday afternoon before 40th Judicial District Court Judge J. Sterling Snowdy, Cheek accepted an offer by the St. John district attorney to avoid the possibility of the death penalty by pleading guilty instead of going to trial.

Snowdy ordered the sentences to be served consecutively.

Invited by Snowdy to speak, Gonzalez’s widow, Gloria Gonzalez, 42, said she approved of the death penalty and believed Cheek deserved it, but that executing him “would not bring Octavio back, would not bring back the father of my children.”

The couple has two sons, 10 and 7.

Gonzalez, a 14-year veteran who carried the nickname “Ox” because of his stature, was highly respected and well-liked.

He is the third St. John deputy to be shot to death in the line of duty and the first one to be killed during Sheriff Wayne L. Jones’ administration.

“He was an outstanding deputy and a personal friend,” said Jones, who attended the hearing. “He’s had a lasting effect on the department.”

At least 30 of Gonzalez’s relatives and friends, including St. John sheriff’s deputies in plain clothes, filled two rows in the courtroom. The hearing took about 40 minutes, during which Cheek agreed to waive his rights to a trial and an appeal.

Assistant District Attorney George Ann Graugnard gave a brief, low-voiced description of most of the events of the night Gonzalez was killed. Cheek was pulled over by Adams and another officer on U.S. 51 in LaPlace, where Cheek shot at their police car and wounded Adams, Graugnard said.

A short time later, Gonzalez answered a call about a suspicious car in the Spring Meadows subdivision near the highway. It was carrying Cheek and a companion, Crystal Lynn Reed, according to police.

Authorities said the two had gotten lost in the neighborhood trying to escape from deputies. Graugnard said Gonzalez arrived at the scene about 1:20 a.m. He was shot three times.

After the shooting, authorities said the couple stole Gonzalez’s unmarked police car and fled to Jefferson Parish, where they crashed the car in River Ridge.

Reed was arrested, and Cheek surrendered after holding an 81-year-old River Ridge man hostage for several hours in the man’s home.

After sentencing Cheek, Snowdy asked if any of Gonzalez’s family members wanted to comment.

After struggling for several moments to control her voice, Gloria Gonzalez said she felt she needed to speak for others who knew her husband, including his 76-year-old mother, who was in the room.

“She would like you to know you are an assassin,” she said to Cheek.

“I lost a part of my life and my kids lost a critical part of their lives” and the community lost one of its best officers, she said.

Cheek, dressed in an orange prison uniform and shackled at the hands and feet, sat still without looking at the family.

His hair and beard were neatly trimmed. Several tattoos covered his forearms, and on his neck was the word “North,” part of a tattoo for the north side of Houston, where he had lived, said Cheek’s attorney, Richard Goorley.

Goorley, an attorney with the Capital Assistance Project of Louisiana, said Cheek will be taken to Jefferson Parish. There he faces charges of second-degree kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated burglary and other charges.

Graugnard said charges are pending in St. John against Reed, who is in custody in St. Charles Parish.

Rest In Peace Brother, we now have your watch.

Appreciate the update. It took a strong woman to stand up and tell that a@#hole that he was an assassin---good for her!

Rest in peace