Daniel Lease
The trial for the 2016 Grant Watkins murder has been vacated, after the last of the defendants pleaded guilty to charges Friday.
Daniel Lease, 22, has pleaded guilty to compounding crimes for his role in the murder. Lease helped the gunman, 22-year-old Reed Skenandore, dispose of the firearm and clothing used during the murder.
Lease is the last of the six involved in the murder to plead guilty to charges. The trial was originally supposed to start next week.
Reed Skenandore, Jesus Garcia-Manriquez, 19, Allen Garcia-Manriquez, 20, Jonathan Skenandore, 20, Daniel Lease, 22, and Jacob Huttman, 21, were all charged in connection with the Jan. 11, 2016, murder of the 18-year-old Watkins.
Watkins died after being shot in the abdomen in an early morning drug deal-turned-robbery, detectives said. Detectives believe Watkins was meeting Reed Skenandore, Jesus Garcia-Manriquez, Jonathan Skenandore and Huttman around 12:30 a.m. at Blackwell Pond Park to sell the men three ounces of marijuana when Reed Skenandore allegedly shot Watkins. It was alleged in court during the preliminary hearing Allen Garcia-Manriquez helped drive his brother to the scene and Daniel Lease helped Reed Skenandore dispose of the firearms and clothing used that night.
Lease could face one to four years in prison for his involvement.
Reed Skenandore pleaded guilty to felony first degree murder and conspiracy to commit robbery last week; Jonathan Skenandore, Huttman and Jesus Garcia-Manriquez pleaded guilty to felony second degree murder and conspiracy to commit robbery; and Allen Garcia-Manriquez was remanded on misdemeanor charges.
As per the agreement, the murder charge is a life sentence with possibility of parole after 20 years. The second degree murder charge carries a life with the possibility of parole after 10 years have been served, or a definite term of 25 years with eligibility after a minimum of 10 years has been served. The conspiracy charges could be up one to six years in prison, however, the District Attorney will have the opportunity to argue whether that charge will run concurrent or consecutive to the murder charges.
All six defendants will be sentenced on May 1 and May 3.