(CNN) — A Florida male was sentenced to lifetime in jail Friday following a jury discovered him guilty in the 2022 murder of his roommate, an LGBTQ advocate and brother of a former Miami mayor.
The Leon County jury located Steven R. Yinger guilty of first-diploma murder, tampering with evidence, grand theft motor motor vehicle, grand theft and felony use of a personalized identification variety, court docket records exhibit.
The choose assigned to the case sentenced him instantly to everyday living in prison, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
CNN has attained out to Yinger’s legal professional for remark on the verdict and sentencing.
The human body of Jorge Diaz-Johnston was uncovered in January 2022 in a Jackson County landfill numerous days soon after he was last observed. Police believe that Diaz-Johnston was strangled with a ligature and his physique was wrapped in bed linens and dumped in the trash at his property, the possible lead to segment in lookup warrants in the case show.
A grand jury indicted Yinger in April 2022, alleging he strangled Diaz-Johnston concerning January 3 and 5 of that year.
Diaz-Johnston’s husband, Don Diaz-Johnston, noted him lacking, according to look for warrants. Don Diaz-Johnston informed law enforcement Yinger was his husband’s roommate and his spouse experienced been setting up to check with Yinger to move out due to the fact they hadn’t been receiving together.
“I am so indignant. After all all those yrs of trying to get my spouse back again, to have him ripped from me for these types of an utterly senseless reason,” Don Diaz-Johnston informed CNN affiliate WPLG in an job interview previous calendar year immediately after the incident.
He explained his late partner understood Yinger from an alcoholic beverages recovery system and took him in while he and Jorge have been separated.
“Jorge didn’t cost him lease, under no circumstances experienced anticipations, right until he could get a work and support himself, and that is who Jorge was,” Don Diaz-Johnston advised WPLG in 2022.
In a statement right after the verdict and sentencing, Don Diaz-Johnston extended his “heartfelt gratitude” to the Tallahassee Law enforcement Section detectives who labored on his husband’s situation.
“Their efforts really exemplify earth-class investigative work, and the Tallahassee group ought to choose enormous satisfaction in their accomplishments,” his statement continued.
Jorge and Don Dia- Johnston were a single of 6 partners who submitted a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County in 2014 complicated Florida’s ban on very same-sexual intercourse marriage. A Miami-Dade circuit decide ruled in the couples’ favor in 2015.
In January, the victim’s brother, Manny Diaz – who served as mayor of Miami from 2001 to 2009 – launched a assertion saying his brother “was such a unique reward to this earth whose heart and legacy will go on to are living on for generations to come.”
The-CNN-Wire
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