Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett.
A Haverhill man will serve at least 23 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in a 2012 armed home invasion at a River Street, Haverhill, apartment in which two people were shot to death during a confrontation.
Juan Carlos Sanchez, 25, formerly of Lawrence, was sentenced Thursday, by Salem Superior Court Judge Thomas Drechsler, to 23 to 27 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, home invasion, armed robbery and two counts of armed assault with intent to murder, according to Carrie Kimball-Monahan, spokesperson for Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett. As WHAV earlier reported, the home invasion was allegedly orchestrated by two other suspects to obtain marijuana and cash.
“Sanchez admitted that on July 23, 2012, he broke into the first-floor apartment of William Melchionda at 631 River Street in Haverhill while armed and masked and shot four people, killing Melchionda. Sanchez’s co-conspirator, Anddy Guzman of Lawrence, was also shot and killed but case law prevents a prosecution of a co-conspirator. Sanchez also pistol-whipped two others who were in the apartment at the time,” a statement reads.
The alleged co-conspirators, Joshua Cloutman, now 24 and Angela Walsh, now 25, are scheduled to face trial in late January, according to Blodgett’s office.
“Walsh and Cloutman will be tried together,” Kimball-Monahan told WHAV Friday.
As WHAV reported in July, 2015, Walsh filed a motion for dismissal of murder charges, as well as charges of home invasion, armed robbery, armed assault and burglary. Kimball Monahan said, at the time, it is not uncommon for defendants to file a motion for dismissal. Cloutman also faces similar charges. They, along with Sanchez, were indicted by an Essex County grand jury in October, 2012.
Sanchez’s case was prosecuted by Essex Assistant District Attorneys Jean Curran and Ashlee Logan.
Back in the day, before The Eagle Tribune caved to political whims, does anyone else remember that a witness to this crime spilled the beans on The E-T discussion thread (when it was “Disqus”)? Slam dunk case, served by the The People.
I do.
I followed that blog close back int he day.
Al White caved all right. For a guy working in the Free Speech business he gave in to the promises of Failurentini and Zanni that the ET would have better access to information. Look what that got them…they’re closer to going out of business every day. I don’t think Al quite understood that a good portion of the “news” in any given article was provided by his readers.