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Geofrey Gaitan, 31, was found guilty of second-degree attempted murder in April after two previous trials resulted in hung juries in connection to the near-fatal attack of Nicholas Miranda in April 2020.
On Thursday, July 25, the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office announced that he has been sentenced to 27 years in prison.
According to court documents, on April 19, 2020, Gaitan severely beat his 63-year-old landlord in a home in the 9700 block of Hastings Drive in Silver Spring, striking him with two solid wood table legs and stomping on his head when he fell to the ground.
Upon arrival at the scene, Montgomery County Police officers found Miranda lying on the floor of the kitchen in a pool of his own blood, not alert, and unconscious.
The landlord suffered multiple skull fractures and a permanent, traumatic brain injury and had to be rushed to Washington Hospital Center with life-threatening injuries.
Court documents state that outside of the home, they found Gaitan standing in the driveway with a black duffle bag sitting on top of a car with his passport and birth certificate. he also had blood on his shoes.
A witness living in the basement said that he heard a commotion on the first floor of the home, where he saw Gaitan standing over Miranda stomping and punching his head, at which point he retreated downstairs and called the police.
It was later determined that Gaitan was late on rent payments dating into the previous year.
A second witness also living in the house reported he heard yelling, and a "thud," and when he went to investigate, found the landlord in a pool of blood and Gaitan simply said, "just leave him, just leave him."
He then said after calling the police, he heard Gaitan repeatedly saying, "he's the reason why I don't have my money," walking out of the home and down the street with the duffle bag before police initially arrived.
"Our dedicated attorneys remained committed to seeking justice for this victim and his family," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said when he was convicted. "This was an unprovoked attack on an innocent man and (Gaitan) will now be held accountable."
In addition to his lengthy prison term, a judge also ordered that Gaitan serve five years of supervised probation when he is released.
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