State's high court upholds Barrow murder conviction

ATLANTA - The Georgia Supreme Court Monday morning upheld the conviction of a Winder man in a 2006 murder at a Barrow County restaurant.

Yonlenon DeLeon was convicted of gunning down Servando-Duron Nieto in April 2006. A woman was also wounded during the shootout, shot in the head, but she survived.

Winder Police Lt. Lamar Reynolds said at the time that the shootings started as an argument at the El Manantial restaurant on Broad Street.

DeLeon fled the country after the attack, but was arrested when he returned to Winder, according to the court summary, which is posted on the high court's Web site. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder and also was sentenced to additional time for other crimes related to the case.

The court did agree to toss out convictions on two of those charges, felony tampering with evidence and reckless conduct.

The justices ruled that DeLeon should be retried on the tampering with evidence charge, saying that the charge should have been a misdemeanor offense rather than a felony offense.

To read the court's entire ruling, click on the link below.

(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)