PITTSBURGH: Michael A. Melendez was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for the stabbing death of his mother in her West Deer home in 2002.
Judge Jeffrey Manning delivered the mandatory sentence to Melendez after finding him guilty of the first-degree murder of Linda Melendez, 56.
An extensive personal and family history of serious drug abuse was no excuse for the killing, Manning said.
"There is no question this is a tragedy," Manning said. "The misery of drug abuse was visited on a family pitifully wallowing in addiction."
While it was never a question whether Melendez killed his mother, defense attorney Kathleen Cribbins had tried to argue for a verdict on the lesser charges of third-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter, which would have carried far less substantial prison terms of 40 years or less.
Manning rejected those arguments, saying that despite the large quantity of drugs Melendez took on the day of the killing, he was clear-headed and premeditated the murder of his mother, making him guilty of the most serious homicide charge.
Melendez, 37, and his mother both abused several drugs, including prescription pain killers and heroin. Mother and son fought off-and-on throughout the day of Aug. 27, 2002, because they both were in need of drugs and suffering withdrawal.
Early on Aug. 28 the fight escalated when Melendez demanded his then-13-year-old daughter tell him where she'd hidden the kitchen knives earlier in the day.
During the trial, the girl choked back tears as she testified that although she'd hidden the knives because she was afraid her father would hurt himself with them, she broke down and said they were in a closet.
At the urging of her father and grandmother, Nichole Lugdon then took her 2-year-old brother and fled upstairs, away from the fight.
A pathologist testified that Michael Melendez then apparently stabbed his mother 34 times in the chest, arms and hands. About half of Linda Melendez's wounds were defensive wounds on her arms and hands, Dr. Bennett Omalu testified. The fatal wound was an 11-centimeter deep cut in her chest that severed a major vein, he said.
"I just want to apologize to Pennsylvania, my mother, my family," Melendez said after the verdict.
Melendez remains in the Allegheny County Jail, pending his transfer to a state prison. Manning ordered that Melendez be placed on a suicide watch after Cribbins warned the judge.
"Mr. Melendez has said on many occasions that if he is found guilty of first-degree murder he will kill himself," she said.
