Murder trial for SC restaurateur Greg Leon delayed again, halfway through trial
The trial of Greg Leon, a Mexican restaurant entrepreneur, was delayed Monday by a surprise two-day recess. There was no word what caused the delay, which came after the state rested its case Friday and before the defense had called any witnesses.
“There are some matters that the attorneys and I are working on at this time,” circuit court judge Walton J. McLeod, IV told the jury Monday morning. The judge told the jury to return to the Lexington County courthouse at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“We plan to continue this trial on Wednesday,” McLeod said. Attorneys had told The State last week that they expected the the trial to be finished by Wednesday.
“It really came down to some legal issues and we all needed a chance to sort that out,” Leon’s defense attorney Jack Swerling told The State.
Swerling said that he could not discuss the nature of the issues, but indicated that he expected the trial to resume on Wednesday.
The trial is taking place more than seven years after Leon, who is an owner of the San Jose chain of Mexican restaurants in the Midlands, was charged with the murder of Arturo Bravo Santos, a 28-year-old construction worker who prosecutors have said was engaged in an affair with Leon’s wife, Rachel.
Supporters for Leon, who have often numbered more than a dozen, were not present at proceedings Monday, which were already delayed by the selection of a jury for an upcoming civil trial taking place in Lexington County.
Leon is accused of tracking his wife to a Lexington County parking lot on the night of Valentine’s Day in 2016, where his wife had arranged to meet up with Bravo Santos,
Upon discovering the couple, Leon repeatedly shot into the backseat of the truck before fleeing the scene. Minutes after the shooting, Leon is alleged to have called 911 saying “I shot my wife and her lover.”
Leon’s defense attorney, Jack Swerling, has argued that Bravo Santos threatened Leon and appeared to be reaching for a gun.
“This is a self-defense case,” Swerling said during opening statements.
The prosecution has rejected this theory, and on Friday pathologist Dr. Janice Ross, who performed Bravo Santos’ autopsy, argued that the angle of the bullet entrance and exit wounds indicated that the victim was leaning away from the Leon at the time of the shooting.
The presence of a contact wound on the inside of Bravo Santos’ right arm, near where a bullet traveled through his armpit, indicated that he was not reaching for anything, Ross told the jury.
“It indicates to me that arm was down by the body,” Ross said.
This story was originally published June 26, 2023 at 4:04 PM.