A felon who gunned down a 39-year-old San Jacinto man after the victim slapped him during an argument is facing 15 years to life in state prison when he’s sentenced this summer.
A Riverside jury on Tuesday convicted Melvin Mario James Landry, 42, of San Jacinto, of second-degree murder for killing Gilbert Wah in 2020. Along with the murder count, the panel found Landry guilty of sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 19 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Landry is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
In January, a Banning jury deliberated two days before deadlocking on the murder and other charges, only finding the defendant guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. That led to the District Attorney’s Office moving forward with retrying the case.
According to an agency trial brief, on the night of July 23, 2020, Wah, his wife, Octavia Wah, and Landry got together at the victim’s house at 801 S. Camino Los Banos to “drink alcohol and smoke marijuana.”
The defense said in its brief Landry was in the midst of a divorce from his wife, Sylvia Joshua, because “he was caught cheating” on her. He was also suffering depression from the recent death of his mother.
As he, the victim and Octavia drank and smoked long into the night, tensions escalated due to Gilbert Wah’s references to Landry as a “pussy” and “bitch” — demeaning terms used to describe the defendant’s relationship with his wife, according to the prosecution’s brief.
Shortly after 3 a.m. July 24, Wah became aggressive, slapping Landry across the face. The defendant did not hit back, but instead went to his Dodge Durango pickup parked nearby, grabbed a semiautomatic handgun, then returned to the house and confronted Wah, firing a single shot into his heart, prosecutors said.
The victim died on the spot.
Wah’s wife struck Landry and attempted to stop him from leaving, but he got away from her. She called 911, and patrol deputies converged on the location. Sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Thurm said as personnel were gearing up to begin a search, Landry “returned to the scene and surrendered.”
The defendant has a prior misdemeanor conviction in Riverside County for driving under the influence. He has a felony conviction in another jurisdiction, but the offense wasn’t listed.
Court papers indicated Wah, too, had a record, including battery on a peace officer in another state, as well as a fraud conviction locally.