A man in Houston was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison for killing his prom date in 2014. He was convicted of assault after he choked the victim to death while having sex in a hotel after their high school prom night.
According to Chron, Eddie Herrera, 20-years old, was convicted of killing Jacqueline Gomez, 17 years old. Herrera and Gomez went to a hotel after their high school prom, where the two had sex and during the activity, Herrera choked the victim causing her death on May 16th 2014. Gomez's body was found the next day in the bed of the hotel room.
Herrera's defense lawyer, Doug O'Brien, asked the court jurors to sentence him probation while prosecutors recommended 40 years to life sentence for the case. "Eddie Herrera had absolutely no motive and no reason. He did not choke her to death. He could have just as easily died in that hotel room," O'Brien said during the closing argument.
The Aldine MacArthur High school student, who was 18 years old at the time, was convicted of assault. The International Business Times reported that during the police investigation, Herrera reasoned he and his mother rented the hotel room, got two bottles of whiskey and at least 20 pills of hydrocodone, a prescription painkiller. He told detectives that he and Gomez drank a bottle and a half of whiskey and took most of the pills before having consensual sex.
During the sex, he said to the police, Gomez told her to "squeeze her neck". Prosecutors said it was more likely that Herrera choked Gomez until she was unconscious during rough sex. He then passed out next to her and woke up finding her dead.
Herrera's mother was also charged due to her role of renting the hotel and providing the teenagers with alcohol and drugs. Her intention was to give her son "a good time," Breibart cited.
Gomez, whom her friends describe as "just a good spirit to be around," were shocked when the news came out. With the 25-year sentence ruling, Herrera's lawyer plans to make an appeal.
