Brendan McCarthy / Eyewitness News Email: | Twitter:
@bmccarthyWWL  NEWORLEANS- An Orleans Parishjury this afternoon
found a Houston man guilty of stabbing a 23-year-old Marine to
death in the French Quarter on Halloween night 2010.  Melvin
Clay, 39,was found guilty of second-degree murder and
obstruction ofjusticein the death of Sgt. Ryan Lekosky, who was
in his dress blues with his wife the night of the killing.
Lekosky's family left the courthouse in tears. His mother, Lucy,
thanked prosecutors for their work on the case.  District
Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said he was pleased with the verdict.
'We are getting someone who committed a very violent act, a very
violent criminal off the streets for the rest of his life and
that is important.'  Clay, a felon and a pimp, will serve a
mandatory life sentence in jail. The jury deliberated for more
than three hours before issuing their verdict.  Clay didn't deny
he stabbed Marine Sgt. Ryan Lekosky seven times on Halloween
night 2010, but defense attorney John Thom