SC Mexican restaurant owner Leon: Valentine’s Day killing of wife’s ‘lover’ justified

Mexican chain restaurant owner Gregorio Leon, who killed his wife’s alleged lover on Valentine’s Day 2016, may have actually had good reasons to do so, according to documents filed in his defense at the Lexington County courthouse.

The documents reveal, for the first time, evidence that Leon’s attorneys likely will use to convince a jury to acquit Leon of murder charges in the shooting death of Arturo Bravo Santos, 28, on the night of Valentine’s Day at a deserted ride-sharing parking lot near I-20 and U.S. 378.

Leon’s trial was supposed to have been held last month at the Lexington County courthouse. But it has been delayed at least six months. Up until now, Leon’s side of the story has not been made public.

The fact that Leon shot and killed Santos is not disputed in the documents filed in his defense.

At the time of the fatal shooting, Santos — clad only in his socks — was in the back seat of a pickup truck with Leon’s wife, the documents say.

Leon, 52, opened the door and opened fire, according to police reports. He then called 911, telling a police operator on a recorded line, “I shot my wife’s lover.”

But the court documents recently filed by Leon’s defense attorneys claim that Santos was not Leon’s wife’s lover but, instead, had repeatedly forced her to have sex by threatening violence against her children. She continued to see Santos periodically to prevent him from disclosing the relationship and to prevent harm from coming to her children, the documents said.

Leon’s wife was “scared and embarrassed,” the documents said.

The documents also raise the claim by Leon that he shot and killed Santos in self-defense — a claim which, if believed by a jury, could lead to Leon’s acquittal on the murder charge. Using deadly force to save your life is a valid defense to a charge of murder. It would be up to a jury, after hearing evidence from both prosecution and defense, to decide whether Leon had a justifiable claim of self-defense.

At the time of the shooting, the documents say, Leon had opened the door of the pickup truck where his wife and Santos were. Santos then raised himself up, told Leon’s wife that he “was going to kill Greg” and appeared to reach for a possible gun between the front seats, Leon’s wife told investigators, according to the documents.

Leon, 52, is the operator of a Midlands-based chain of more than a half-dozen Mexican restaurants that employ some 150 people. In recent years, he has been in the news for paying a $180,000 federal fine for employing 60 undocumented immigrants. He also provided key evidence in a case that led to the 2015 sentence of longtime Lexington County Sheriff Jimmy Metts to a year in federal prison.

Leon is currently on house arrest, with freedom to tend to his businesses, on a $500,000 secured bond to assure his appearance in court proceedings.

Eleventh Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard, saying he is under a gag order, declined comment on the case. Also declining comment because of the gag order were Leon’s attorneys, state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, and Chris Kenney.

The documents filed in Leon’s defense also say:

▪ Santos also used threats to force Leon’s wife to buy him a $40,000 Toyota Tundra pickup truck from Dick Dyer Toyota. Santos and Leon’s wife were in that truck when he was shot to death.

▪ Santos was threatening two other women with physical violence to get money and sex from them. The two women, who are not identified in the records, are potential witnesses on Leon’s behalf in any upcoming trial.

▪ Santos had “at least three known aliases and ties to a violent drug cartel known as Los Zetas” and had started his “relationship” with Leon’s wife by raping her in 2014.

▪ Santos was an undocumented Mexican citizen who “appears to have been living illegally in this country under multiple aliases.”

▪ Leon had installed a tracking device on his wife’s car and apparently used signals from that device to locate her car at the ride-sharing parking lot. He then went to the pickup truck, where he found his wife and Santos.

The documents give only the defense’s side of the case. In any trial, the prosecutors would be able to cross examine defense witnesses and present their own witnesses and documents to counter the defense narrative.

This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 2:56 PM with the headline "SC Mexican restaurant owner Leon: Valentine’s Day killing of wife’s ‘lover’ justified."