Man guilty in '04 killing

December 16, 2005

MARY AMES/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - A Palmer Superior Court jury returned with a verdict Thursday in the trial of a Valley man accused of breaking into a Four Corners home and fatally shooting his former girlfriend's new lover as he laid on his back, sound asleep, in bed.

Closing arguments finished up late Wednesday morning in the case of Eugene Gordon, 41, and Judge Eric Smith handed the case to the jury to begin deliberations.

Jurors returned about 3 p.m. Thursday with guilty verdicts on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, two counts of second-degree murder, manslaughter and third-degree assault in the Dec. 14, 2004, slaying of Jesus &#8220Jesse” Manglona, 51, and the assault on Manglona's new girlfriend, Laurie Welsh, who had been involved in a long-term relationship with Gordon until a few weeks before the slaying.

The verdict came in one year and one day after Gordon spent a night drinking, went home to get his Taurus .357-caliber Magnum revolver and at 2 a.m. went looking for Welsh, who had broken up with him before Thanksgiving that year.

&#8220He hunted her, he brought a gun,” District Attorney Roman Kalytiak told the jury in closing arguments. &#8220There's no doubt he was drunk. He brought a loaded gun, he pointed the gun and pulled the trigger. If somebody does this, he intends the consequences of his actions.”

When Gordon didn't find Welsh at home, he went to Manglona's house because he thought Welsh and Manglona might have started dating, according to his own testimony.

&#8220I thought she was seeing Jesse or another guy,” Gordon testified, while on the witness stand Tuesday. &#8220I noticed two sets of tire tracks going into the garage. I pushed in the door, enough to see Laurie's car, and I just lost it. I reached in the truck, grabbed the gun and went in the back door and ran upstairs and saw them sleeping together.”

Assistant Public Defender Diane Foster told jurors that while many facts were not in dispute, no one knows what happened before the gun went off.

&#8220Science isn't a big help in this case,” Foster said. &#8220Kay Sweeney (a Washington state firearms expert brought in to testify for the defense) said that drinking and having a loaded gun is a recipe for accidental shooting. He didn't go in knowing he would shoot a friend, he didn't intend to kill or cause serious physical injury. It's just not supported by the evidence.”

Gordon maintained that the gun went off as he was swinging his arms from above his head to below his waist. He recalled nothing, he testified, from the time he entered the house until he was standing at the foot of the bed screaming, &#8220F— you! F— both of you,” and the gun went off.

&#8220I saw Jesse dead,” Gordon said. &#8220It was pretty evident. I felt like s—.”

Kalytiak described the same scene from a different view.

&#8220The defendant was five feet away and in control of a gun, making disparaging remarks,” Kalytiak said. &#8220He broke into the home. He created a situation. The gun didn't just go off. He pointed the gun and pulled the trigger to make the firearm shoot.”

After hearing the verdict, Welsh said the prosecution did an &#8220awesome job” of bringing out the evidence.

&#8220I'm grateful for Jesse and his family,” she said, &#8220even though we'll never have him back.”

Gordon, who has a 1984 conviction for robbery in Minnesota, is scheduled for sentencing March 17.

This was the fourth first-degree murder conviction in Palmer court in 2005, according to Kalytiak.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.