By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

EDGARD – Ever since the tragic shooting death of St. John Detective Octavio “Ox” Gonzalez on June 16, 2006, as he tried to apprehend a criminal in the late night hours, his wife Gloria has maintained a strong public persona.

Remaining mostly private, Gloria Gonzalez has kept her feelings out of the public eye when those times came that she even was forced to be seen by the general population.

On Wednesday afternoon in the 40th Judicial District courtroom of Judge Sterling Snowdy, a surprise hearing was called as accused killer Johnny Lee Cheek decided to plead guilty to the first degree murder charge.

This gave Gonzalez a final chance to go public with her feelings about the loss of her husband nearly two years ago, and this time she didn’t hold back.

“People thought when I didn’t have much to say at the funeral that I was doing OK, and I thought it was the right thing to do,” she said as she addressed the judge and those in the courtroom. “But I haven’t been OK. It’s so rough to have lost my best friend and for my two boys to have lost their father.

“I kept thinking and thinking about today, and what could I say to explain what this has meant to me and my family,” she said, raising a strong voice amidst her tears. “But it is unnecessary to try to say it since the people here know what we lost. Ox was a great friend to me, and a great father for his two boys, and one of the best officers the St. John Parish Sheriff’s office ever knew.”

Cheek, who had concluded his admission of guilt in the case, sat stoically next to attorney Richard C. Goorley, looking straight ahead and showing no emotion other than an occasional twitch.

Cheek had been charged with first degree murder for the killing of Gonzalez, and also attempted first degree murder for shooting St. John Officer Monty Adams.

Rather than go to trial and face what might have ended in the death penalty, Cheek decided to change his plea to guilty after Gloria Gonzalez apparently decided to forego the long years of trials and appeals that undoubtedly would have resulted from the case.

In the end, Cheek pleaded guilty to both counts, and accepted Snowdy’s sentence of life in prison with no chance of probation or parole.

Cheek, arms covered with tattoos and having only a 10th grade education, was stern looking from the time he was brought into court until he was taken out a side door when the hearing was over. Even then as he was being put into a squad car and heading for Angola prison, he refused to comment when asked “do you have anything to say to the family.”

His attorney said that he could not comment on whether Cheek ever showed remorse in their discussions, but he did say that his plea of guilty said something in itself.

“The plea tells you that Mr. Cheek is accepting responsibility for what happened,” he said. “He is acknowledging his guilt with the plea.”

A crowd of nearly 30 members of the Gonzalez family showed up in court for the plea hearing, showing their support, while St. John Sheriff Wayne Jones was also there, as was a host of St. John officers.

“Ox” Gonzalez’ mother, Lola Gonzalez, was in the audience as well, wiping away tears as her daughter-in-law became emotional in front of the judge. And she too, had some words for Cheek, which she had Gloria Gonzalez read.

“You are an assassin,” Lola Gonzalez said. “You took away a good husband, father and a son who was always there to help me, and take care of me. I hope you are reminded your entire life that you killed a good man, and I curse you for the rest of my life.”

Snowdy had equally stern words for Cheek during the plea deal and sentencing.

“You inflicted untold havoc on this community with what you did,” he told Cheek. “Hearing these words today are just a taste of it. What you have heard from these family members today speaks of the horrific deed you did.”

Cheek, 31 when the shooting occurred in St. John Parish on June 16, 2006, was pulled over that night by Adams during an evening when the St, John department was involved in a major drug bust operation.

But before Adams could exit his vehicle shortly after 1 a.m., he was shot and hit in the left thigh. Gonzalez joined the pursuit of Cheek, and his accomplice, Crystal Lynn Reed. However when Gonzalez caught up to Cheek, somewhere in the attempt to apprehend him, Cheek shot Gonzalez three times in the vicinity of the Spring Meadows subdivision. Gonzalez was pronounced dead on the scene when rescue workers arrived, after a resident in the area called in the report of a man dragging the body of another man.