Greg Leon’s wife asks judge to let husband out of jail, even though he killed her alleged lover

Just days after a well-known Lexington restaurateur allegedly fired shots into the back seat of a pickup truck that held his wife and another man, Maria Leon told a circuit court judge on Friday that her husband should be released on bond.

Maria Leon was with the still-unidentified man in a Lexington commuter parking lot on the evening of Valentine’s Day when Greg Leon, 49, shot into the vehicle and killed the man, according to arrest warrants.

“I shot my wife’s lover,” Leon said on a recorded 911 line, according to the warrants. He surrendered to the Lexington police later that night.

Maria Leon, speaking through a translator, a sister of Greg Leon, told Judge Knox McMahon on Friday she does not believe her husband would hurt her or anyone in their family if released on bond.

“I don’t think he is capable of it,” Maria Leon said. Another interpreter was there to verify the translation.

Greg Leon has been charged with murder in the shooting death of the victim, discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and attempted murder of Maria Leon, his wife of 26 years.

“I am not afraid of him,” Maria Leon said. She also testified that her husband’s restaurants, which support their family and some 130 employees, would struggle without him.

Judge McMahon granted a $500,000 surety bond after Greg Leon’s attorneys, Dick Harpootlian and Eric Bland, argued the naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico is not a flight risk nor a danger to the community.

But Greg Leon will remain in jail for now because of a hold placed on him because Leon was on federal probation when the shooting occurred. A condition of probation is that Leon not possess a gun or ammunition.

Harpootlian said Leon has a concealed weapons permit and believed he lawfully possessed the handgun.

“I want to make it clear that he felt he had a right to carry a pistol,” Harpootlian said. “He had been carrying a pistol, and he told his probation officer that he’d been carrying the pistol.”

A federal judge will have to review the case and decide whether Leon should be released, Harpootlian said.

The bond came with conditions. McMahon said Greg Leon is to surrender his passport, live at his parents’ home, provide his weekly schedules to the Lexington County Solicitor’s Office and be fitted with an electronic tracker.

McMahon also imposed a 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. curfew and barred Greg Leon from contacting his wife or possessing any deadly weapon. McMahon then clarified that Leon would be allowed to wield a knife in the kitchen of one of his restaurants, if need be.

Authorities say the shooting happened at a lot at 110 Riverchase Way in the town of Lexington. The shooting was captured on a video surveillance camera at the parking lot just off I-20, a warrant said.

The shooting victim was in the rear seat of a Toyota Tundra pickup when he was struck by “multiple bullets” from a handgun, a warrant said. Leon’s wife was in the back seat with the man, but “none of the bullets fired struck Ms. Leon,” a warrant said.

Greg Leon’s friends and family filled several rows of seats in the courtroom. They all stood, some wiping away tears, when Harpootlian asked for anyone who supported Leon’s release to stand. Greg Leon, dressed in black, did not speak at the hearing.

Leon, a well-known businessman who has owned up to eight restaurants, has admitted to paying bribes and employing undocumented immigrants. Leon was the target of the joint state-federal investigation that led to the guilty plea last year of former Lexington County Sheriff James Metts in federal court.

Leon last October pleaded guilty to a charge of paying bribes that went to Metts in return for getting illegal Mexican workers out of Metts’ county jail. The illegal Mexican workers had been employed by Leon at his restaurants.

Eleventh Circuit Solicitor Donnie Myers told the judge his office has “concern” about Greg Leon’s connections with Mexico. Bland said Leon sends money to support at least 10 families in his Mexican hometown but that Leon would not flee there if released on bond.

“He’s not sending money back to park in Mexico,” Bland said. “He’s supporting impoverished families.”

Harpootlian pointed out that Leon did not flee while facing previous federal charges, and that he turned himself in the night of the shooting.

“If he wanted to go to Mexico, he could have gone the other night,” Harpootlian said.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Greg Leon’s wife asks judge to let husband out of jail, even though he killed her alleged lover."