Louis M. Duffy has been found guilty of
the murder of Clinton “Billy” Lewis, the owner of Club Chill, an
Elmira, New York gay bar and club, The-Leader.com
reported.
The 21-year-old Duffy was silent on
Thursday as the jury announced the was guilty of the crime.
Sentencing is expected to take place on January 9.
Jurors found Duffy guilty of
second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a
weapon.
Duffy was arrested hours after he shot
Lewis, 53, in the head after the pair had consensual sex at Lewis'
apartment in the early morning hours of May 1.
While Duffy had confessed to the murder
and even led police to the place he had hidden the Springfield Armory
model XDM .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol he used to kill Lewis,
defense attorneys argued that he acted under the influence of extreme
emotional disturbance and should be convicted of the lesser crime of
manslaughter.
Duffy testified that he had been
molested by his adoptive grandfather when he was in the second and
third grades. And that he had “homosexual tendencies” but had
not acted upon them.
“I didn't want it to happen with
him,” he told the jury. “I didn't want to try it with him.”
According to Duffy, he was in Lewis'
apartment, which is located across from his bar, because Lewis had
offered him a construction job the following day at a lakehouse.