Man Found Guilty In Norwalk Gas Station Slaying

NORWALK, Conn. – A man accused of shooting a Norwalk store clerk in the back of the head during a 2009 robbery has been found guilty of murder in Stamford Superior Court.

Alain Leconte, 24, was found guilty Wednesday of two counts of robbery second-degree, two counts of robbery first-degree, murder, attempted murder and felony murder, according to Ryan Flanagan, case coordinator at the court. Sentencing will be on Nov. 21. The jury trial, which was presided over by Judge Gary White, began on Oct. 12.

Leconte was accused of killing 32-year-old Jose Joaquin Morales on Oct, 10, 2009 at the Miracle Shell Station on West Avenue in a murder widely described as "brutal" and "heinous." Mustafa Jacobs was also arrested in the case. Police said Leconte shot Morales while Jacobs waited outside. Jacobs is awaiting trial.

In announcing their arrests, former Chief Harry Rilling said that at least two men walked into the Shell station. "It was early morning hours," he said. "They walked in, they demanded that people lie on the floor and cooperate with them. The attendant on duty at the time was asked to go behind the counter. He opened the register. He came back out from behind the counter. He was asked to lie on the floor, and as they were walking out the door, totally free to walk out the door, one individual fired a shot and hit him in the back of the head."

Leconte was also accused of shooting an Old Greenwich gas station attendant in the back of the head. That led to the attempted murder charge he was convicted of.

Evidence in both shootings included taped conversations with a jailhouse informant.

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