This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
A 25-year-old woman has been convicted for the deadly beating of a 65-year-old artist at a Metro Blue Line stop in Willowbrook last year.On Tuesday, Jurors found Tracy Joy Gomez guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the death of John Whitmore, according to a release from the L.A. County District Attorney's Office. Gomez could face up to 22 years in state prison when she gets sentenced on October 6. Initially, she was charged with murder, but the jurors decided to convict her with the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, the L.A. Times reports.
The tragic incident took place around 1 p.m. on June 13, 2014 at the Willowbrook-Rosa Parks Metro station platform when Gomez and Whitmore, a painter and a sculptor, got into an argument. Deputy District Attorney Shannon Cooley said Gomez then beat Whitmore and fled the scene.
Whitmore was taken to a hospital, and would die from his injuries seven days later.
The criminal complaint filed against Gomez, who was convicted in 2009 for second-degree robbery, accused her of using brass knuckles in the attack, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Police released surveillance video pinpointing two of the women in connection to the beating, and later arrested both Gomez and Virginia Butler, 24, last August. Jurors later acquitted Butler in the murder charge.
Whitmore's brother-in-law, Corey Aldridge, told the Times last year that Whitmore and him used to spend time together drinking coffee every morning on Whitmore's front yard and talk about life and politics. He said that Whitmore "had no enemies," and that his brother-in-law would donate money to art students to help them go to college.
