A man charged with brutally stabbing his former boss in 2007 was found guilty following the closure of a second trial Thursday.
A Will County jury convicted Martin Gomez of murder and armed robbery following nearly two weeks of testimony. Jurors took just over five hours to deliberate Thursday and convict Gomez. He faces up to 55 years in prison.
In 2011, a Will County jury found Gomez guilty of the slaying after only a few hours of deliberation. However, an appeals court in 2013 found the judge who presided over the case did not properly admonish Gomez before allowing him to represent himself at trial and sent the case back to Will County for a new trial. Gomez, 31, once again chose to represent himself during his second trial for the 2007 slaying.
During closing arguments Thursday, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen Griffin recounted how Gomez stabbed Joseph Salamie 111 times at his Peotone area home. The 58-year-old business man owned a 10-acre farm outside of Peotone and a business in Westmont. Gomez once worked for Salamie and lived on the farm property.
Griffin told jurors how Gomez went to Salamie’s home looking for money and stabbed him several times. Gomez then went into the bathroom to clean up but when he heard his former boss still moving, he went back and began stabbing him again as Salamie tried to escape. Salamie’s shirtless body was found several days later near a ditch. Gomez told a former girlfriend that he “sliced him like a turkey” and that he tried to rip out his victim’s throat. He also told her that he dragged his victim’s body several feet before dumping it in a ditch. He then left the house with the money, much of it covered in blood, that he had taken from Salamie.
“(Joseph Salamie) died a horrific death,” Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Tricia McKenna told jurors Thursday. “Martin Gomez is a sociopath.”
Prosecutors said Gomez left DNA in Salamie’s bathroom and that his cell phone pinged off a nearby cell tower during the time of the murder. Witnesses reported seeing Gomez covered in blood, prosecutors noted.
During his arguments, Gomez said the state had failed to prove it’s case and denied any wrongdoing.
“I’m sorry that he died, but I did not do this,” Gomez told jurors during his closing arguments.
He also argued that he didn’t have any money.
“There was no money,” he told jurors. “There was never no bloody money.”
Sentencing for Gomez will be on January 20.
Alicia Fabbre is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
