Marty T. Gaston, 40, was tried for first-degree murder in the 2008 killing of Larry Antonio Gaither, 20. Today, a jury found Gaston guilty of second-degree murder. The Honorable Richard D. Boner, Superior Court Judge, sentenced Gaston to 240-297 months in prison.The murder occurred on October 11, 2008, at the home of Gaston’s girlfriend after she and Gaston argued on the telephone. Gaston then showed up at a gathering of her friends and family, entered her home, and dragged her by the hair and neck into an upstairs bedroom. Mr. Gaither, the cousin of the girlfriend, was shot through the arm and chest when he entered the bedroom in an attempt to intervene. Gaither died minutes later.
Gaston fled, but turned himself in to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department the day after the shooting. After the defendant was sentenced, the victim’s mother thanked the prosecutors and stated that she felt that the family had received justice.