As Tarrant County child sexual abuse trial neared end, defendant killed himself at home
A man on trial in Tarrant County on charges that alleged he sexually assaulted a girl during acts over four and a half years killed himself last week at his Fort Worth house.
The state and defense had on March 1, a Friday, rested and closed their cases in the guilt-innocence phase of Gabriel Gomez’s trial on continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14. The trial was to resume after the weekend.
A verbal reading of jury instructions and closing arguments were scheduled in Criminal District Court No. 2 for March 4 at 9:30 a.m.
Fourteen minutes earlier, at 9:16 a.m., Gomez was pronounced dead at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth. He was 50.
The cause of Gomez’s death was hanging, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Evidence presentation in the trial began on Feb. 28.
Defense attorneys Clark Birdsall and Carlos Gomez represented Gabriel Gomez. Carlos Gomez and Gabriel Gomez were brothers.
The mother of the woman, now 19 years old, who the state alleged was Gomez’s victim described in an interview with a reporter feeling distress because the trial was cut short.
“He deserved to pay for what he did,” the mother said.
With his suicide, Gabriel Gomez avoided the jury’s assessment of the evidence, she suggested.
“It feels like an injustice to me,” the mother said.
Had the jury found Gomez guilty, it would at a second trial phase have considered a punishment term in which the maximum length is life in prison.
State disclosure to the defense of a cellphone used by the girl was the basis of a motion for continuance the defense filed while the trial was underway. The phone may hold evidence that would help the defense, Gomez’s attorneys argued.
“Now that we are in trial, it is too late to get this phone extracted while this jury is in the box, especially since the state will want to concern itself with the potential presence of child porn,” Birdsall wrote.
Visiting Judge Scott Wisch denied the motion.
Birdsall did not return a telephone message seeking an interview. The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office did not respond to questions about the case and mistrial.
An indictment alleged that the sexual abuse occurred between May 2016 and February 2021. A grand jury indicted Gabriel Gomez in April 2021.
Gabriel Gomez was for years the lead singer and guitarist in the hard-rock band Leroy the Prophet.
The woman who the state alleged was the victim wrote of the toll the abuse had taken. She would have been able to read the statement to Gomez in the courtroom after a punishment verdict.
Her mother suggested she print the allocution statement and tape it to his tombstone.
If you or a loved one are experiencing a crisis, call 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or chat online at 988lifeline.org.
Victims of sexual assault can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline for confidential support at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or chat at online.rainn.org.
This story was originally published March 11, 2024 at 5:51 PM.
