PUERTO RICO: Guilty Plea In Murder Of Gay Teen Jorge Mercado

Juan José Martínez Matos has pleaded guilty to the murder of gay Puerto Rican teenager Jorge Mercado (left), whose decapitated and burned body was found by a roadside last November. Mercado's murder caused an international outcry and forced activists to pressure the federal government to ensure that the case was prosecuted as a hate crime by Puerto Rican authorities. Michael Lavers at Edge reports:

Martínez told the court he understood the consequences of his actions, and Judge Miriam Camila Jusino immediately sentenced him to 99 years in prison. Primera Hora reported López’s parents, Myriam Mercado and Jorge López, hugged prosecutor Yaritza Carrasquillo after the hearing. Mercado told the newspaper, however, Martínez’s confession was bittersweet for her and her family. "We are able to find a bit of peace in this aspect, but it still not going to return Steven," she said. "But at least there is justice in Puerto Rico." Jorge López evoked his faith. "I want to send a message to Juan (Casper) and tell him there is hope in Christ," said López with tears in his eyes. "The lord has forgiveness for him, Irregardless of what has happened. God has a plan for him if he opens his heart to Christ. God will forgive him also."

Killer Of Gay Teen Jorge Mercado Found Competent To Stand Trial

The confessed killer of gay teen Jorge Mercado has been found competent to stand trial. Last month Juan Martinez Matos was ordered to undergo mental evaluation after exhibiting symptoms of what some said was a faked state of psychosis. Via Michael Lavers at Edge:

"The quest for justice has begun," Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force told EDGE in a text message sent from inside the court house. Local authorities have pledged to prosecute Martínez under the territory’s hate crimes laws, but activists and elected officials on the island and around the country remain outraged over Gov. Luis Fortuño’s continued silence. "There are a lot of people who are extremely angry about how the governor has responded to this situation," New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said as she spoke at a fundraiser for López’s family at the Nuyorican Poets Café on Manhattan’s Lower East Side on Tuesday night. Quinn is among the lawmakers-City Councilmembers Rosie Mendez [D-Lower East Side] and Melissa Mark-Viverito [D-East Harlem,] among others--from the five boroughs and Chicago who will travel to Puerto Rico on Tuesday to meet with López’s family and LGBT activists.

Serrano told me by phone today that the next step will a February 2nd hearing of the charges. If you are new to this story, in November Matos confessed to stabbing, burning, and dismembering 19 year old Jorge Mercado in what Matos is claiming was gay panic over discovering that Mercado was male.

Killer Of Gay Teen Jorge Mercado Found Mentally Incompetent To Stand Trial

Juan Martinez Matos, the confessed killer of Puerto Rican gay teen Jorge Mercado, has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial for the time being. But is he faking it?

Psychiatrist Rafael Cabrera urged Caguas Superior Court Judge Camila Jusino to send the 26-year old suspect, Juan Martínez Matos, back to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Río Piedras to keep him under evaluation by the medical staff there. However, Cabrera acknowledged during a preliminary hearing that he is not certain whether the symptoms of psychosis referred to by the defendant are real, feigned or exaggerated.

Under questioning by prosecutor Yaritza Carrasquillo, the psychiatrist agreed that the facts that Martínez Matos says he cannot clearly remember are essentially those of the night of the crime. The judge ordered Martínez Matos to undergo another evaluation on January 7 and set a new hearing on his fitness to face criminal proceedings for January 13. Gay rights activist Pedro Julio Serrano was quick to criticize the court developments. “Although full justice can never be done, as Jorge Steven is no longer with us, the process of prosecuting the confessed murderer in one of the most heinous crimes committed in the history of our country has been delayed again,” Serrano said in a statement .

Note that the above-linked story describes Mercado as a "19 year-old transvestite," despite there being no evidence other than the killer's word that Mercado was in drag at the time that Matos decapitated him and burned his body.