Giovanni Melton was shot and murdered by his father Wendell Melton on 11.2.2017, and he served 4 months in jail until March when District Attorney Sandra Dijiacamo, allowed Wendell's bail to be reduced from $808,000 to $200,000. He paid less than the total cost of Giovanni's funeral, services, burial, and marker. It was utter disgust and several contacts with the District Attorney's office that fell on death's ears. Veronica Melton Giovanni's mother made every attempt, to explain that her son's murder was a hate crime but no one would listen, even having the testimonies of neighbors that lived next to Giovanni, witnesses from family members, school friends of Giovanni, and D. A. Sandra Dijiacamo did not want to charge Wendell with a hate crime. Sandra admitted to Veronica that she was going to charge Wendell with the hate crime, but she decided not to because she did not want to lose the case. Not that she did not have the proof, but she did not want to lose the case. Four and a half years later the D.A. quits her job and it was the best thing that could have happened to the case. Veronica was contacted by a new D.A. Palal, and a wonderful assistant Nichole Palacio, they were God-sent. Veronica had lost all hope as she kept attending court cases after court cases and having the murder case postponed by the defense Jonathan McArthur and the previous D.A. going along with whatever the defense wanted along with the Judge. She once thought that she would end up dying before the murderer would be convicted of first-degree murder. Finally, on May 4, 2022, Wendell Melton was convicted of 1st-degree murder, 1st-degree child abuse with substantial bodily harm, and 1st-degree child neglect. Wendell Melton is scheduled for sentencing on September 21, 2022, and Judge Michelle Leavitt will hear testimonies from the family. There have been many many postponements for the murder trial and the sentencing has been postponed several times as well. We hope that this new date will not be postponed again.