Guilty On 14 Counts For Man Accused Of Mail Carrier Murder
MIAMI (CBS4) - A Miami-Dade jury found a man guilty on 14 counts related to the death of postal carrier Bruce Parton as he delivered mail in December 2010.
Pikerson Mentor, 30, was arrested in May 2011 and charged with commission of murder during a robbery and possession of a firearm. He faces life in prison, plus 12 years mandatory consecutive sentence when he is sentenced on November 27th.
CBS4's Gio Benitez asked Parton's daughter what she would tell her father's convicted murderer.
"I guess I would say that I want him to know that my father was a really good man, not just somebody to discard trying to get something like a mail key," said Nina Parton, the postal carrier's daughter.
Parton, a 30 year veteran of the USPS, was just weeks away from retirement when he was shot and killed while on his daily mail route on December 6th, 2010. He was delivering the holiday mail at the Monte Carlo condominiums in the area of 486 NW 165th Street Road in Northwest Miami-Dade when he was killed. The gunman then stole his mail truck, drove a short distance, abandoned it and ran away.
Witness said they heard as many as five shots.
The postal carrier's daughter said her father would be thankful for Thursday's conviction.
"I think he would've felt really good that the same way that he gave everything going to work, that these folks were brave enough to go to court and do their part as well," said Nina Parton.
Prosecutors said the shooting was an attempt to obtain Parton's keys to the mailbox so Mentor and his alleged accomplice Saubnet Politasse could commit mail and ID fraud.
Politasse pleaded guilty to charges last month. His sentencing is set for October 31.
When both men were arrested, Police found Parton's mail key. During questioning Politasse allegedly confessed.
Both suspects have been in and out of the state prison system. Politasse has served time for burglary, grand theft, and fleeing police; Mentor has served time for robbery with a deadly weapon.
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