Sunday, October 13, 2024

Man guilty of murder in 2016 Newport News shooting

NEWPORT NEWS — A 38-year-old man man has been convicted of breaking into a Virginia home and killing a man in front of his wife.

Monte Michael Stokes, 38, was found guilty of second-degree murder last week in the 2016 death of Eduardo Hernandez Amezcua. Amezcua was shot in the head in front of his wife days before Christmas that year.

Amezcua’s wife Amber testified that she awoke that night to the sound of breaking glass and found her husband fighting a stranger, who authorities would later identified as Stokes.

Stokes’ attorney, James Ellenson, says his client wasn’t in his right mind. Stokes tested positive the night of the shooting for alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and a drug found in anti-anxiety medication. He’s set to be sentenced in March.

John Mangalonzo
John Mangalonzohttp://wydaily.com
John Mangalonzo (john@localdailymedia.com) is the managing editor of Local Voice Media’s Virginia papers – WYDaily (Williamsburg), Southside Daily (Virginia Beach) and HNNDaily (Hampton-Newport News). Before coming to Local Voice, John was the senior content editor of The Bellingham Herald, a McClatchy newspaper in Washington state. Previously, he served as city editor/content strategist for USA Today Network newsrooms in St. George and Cedar City, Utah. John started his professional journalism career shortly after graduating from Lyceum of The Philippines University in 1990. As a rookie reporter for a national newspaper in Manila that year, John was assigned to cover four of the most dangerous cities in Metro Manila. Later that year, John was transferred to cover the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines. He spent the latter part of 1990 to early 1992 embedded with troopers in the southern Philippines as they fought with communist rebels and Muslim extremists. His U.S. journalism career includes reporting and editing stints for newspapers and other media outlets in New York City, California, Texas, Iowa, Utah, Colorado and Washington state.

Related Articles

MORE FROM AUTHOR