Family, friends say insanity plea means no justice in Emilie Inman murder case
By Emilie Raguso Nov. 24, 2019, 8:40 p.m.
Emilie Inman playing the guitar at her family home. Photo: Inman family
A devastating murder case concluded Friday in Alameda County Superior Court with a judge finding Pablo Gomez Jr. not guilty by reason of insanity and confining the convicted killer to a state mental hospital for 39 years to life.
Gomez fatally stabbed 27-year-old Emilie Juliette Inman at her Berkeley home in 2017. The two had never met. On Jan. 6, 2017, Gomez got a ride to Inman’s home on Ashby Avenue where a friend had once lived. But instead of finding that friend, Gomez found Inman. Gomez used one of Inman’s kitchen knives to murder her, then meticulously hid her body under a yellow-flowering bush in her yard before ultimately fleeing to Southern California.
The night before, Gomez and other friends at UC Berkeley had taken part in a Día de Los Reyes ceremony that may have involved drug use and, according to the court, ultimately preceded a violent psychotic break with reality.
On Friday morning, Gomez entered no-contest pleas to Inman’s murder and to attacking the friend who had provided the ride to Inman’s house. Clay found the 24-year-old former UC Berkeley activist guilty of those charges. Immediately after finding Gomez guilty, however, Clay ruled that Gomez was insane at the time of the attacks and would therefore not stand trial in the case … [More]