LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Lewis Ray Young, 64, has been convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison for the 2016 death of 79-year-old Conrado Sarate. There is a possibility for parole.
Sarate was found dead inside a house near 21st Street and Ave. P on September 6, 2016. Sarate was killed with tree trimming shears. The shears were found in the living room of the house with blood on them.
Lewis Ray Young was homeless at the time. He was arrested in March 2017, about five months after Sarate’s death.
Police say Sarate had more than a dozen cuts on the front, back and side of his head. Evidence showed Young’s DNA was found on the shears.
Young initially denied any involvement with the murder, but once he knew his DNA was found on the suspected murder weapon, he gave detectives more information.
Court documents show Young told police he was highly intoxicated on September 4, 2016, and was smoking crack cocaine when he was approached by a woman. The woman asked Young to help her get the money owed to her. Young agreed and she drove him to a house, which was the house in the 2100 block of Ave. P.
The report goes on to say the woman stayed in the car and Young went to the door. An older Hispanic male opened the door and let Young in. The man said he did not owe the woman any money and for him to leave the house. The man picked up an unknown object and hit Young in the arm with it. Young said he and the 79-year-old man began to wrestle inside the house. Young told police he took the object and hit Sarate on the head with it twice. When Sarate fell, he hit him once again in the stomach.
The documents also say Young then walked back to the car, told the woman what happened, and the woman walked into the house. Later they both left in the car, according to the court documents. Young told police he had never been to the house before that night.
The sentencing phase began Tuesday afternoon. He faced 5-99 years or life in prison with the possibility of parole. He has been in jail for nearly five and a half years.
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