Man Convicted In 2012 Double Homicide In Bradenton

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — A jury on Friday convicted a man who was accused of fatally shooting two people more than a decade ago during a home invasion gone wrong, State Attorney Ed Brodsky said in a news release.

Jamal Lamar Blakely was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder with a firearm in connection with the Feb. 7, 2012, shootings. His trial was held at the Manatee County Courthouse from Feb. 23 to Feb. 25.

On the day of the murders, prosecutors said Blakely shot and killed Adrian Velasquez Baca, 52, and Mauricio Maldonado Conde, 64, at their home in the 600 block of 61st Avenue Terrace East in Bradenton. VelasquezvBaca was shot multiple times in the back, and Maldonado Conde was shot in the head with the gun pressed against his left temple.

Earlier in the investigation, detectives said the shooting started as a home invasion robbery.

While Blakely was an early suspect, prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence at the time to charge anyone with crimes.

Around the time of the killings, Blakely, who was approximately 17 years old, committed two violent rapes. He was tried and convicted in one of the cases, and he ultimately entered a plea in the second case and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

While serving his sentence, prosecutors said Blakely made admissions about the killings to a prison cellmate, telling them he did it and revealing specific details of the killings that were never made public.

His admission, combined with additional evidence, led prosecutors to charge him in 2021, nine years after the killings.

“While itmay seem sometimes that justice delayed is justice denied, this case is an example of the opposite being true," Assistant State Attorney Rebecca Freel said in a statement. "Through patience, tenacity, hard work, and a little bit of luck, the hard-working men and women of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office were able to build a case against Jamal Blakely, and justice was finally achieved for the victims when, for a time, it seemed like their deaths may go unanswered."

Blakely was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison, a sentence that will run concurrently to the 40 years he's already serving for the rape convictions.