WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A 32-year-old Hollywood man was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being found guilty in the fatal shooting of a hotel guest in West Palm Beach in 2021.
On Thursday, a jury convicted Claudio Ivan Valdiviezo Samayoa and Circuit Court Judge Daliah Weiss then sentenced him to the life sentence.
In his first trial that ended June 13, the jury couldn't agree on whether he killed Drummond.
On the eve of his second trial, Assistant State Attorney Courtney Behar offered Samayoa a deal to manslaughter and 15 years in prison He declined.
At around 10:15 p.m. Oct. 15, 2021, Jamal Drummond, 25, was found face down in the parking lot of Holiday Inn Express, located at 2485 Metrocentre Blvd. Drummond was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the gunman ran to a waiting car after the shooting.
Investigators had the help of three witnesses, video and audio recordings from the hotel and the testimony of an Uber driver who took him there.
The driver, Enzo Ramirez, told investigators Samayoa paid him $100 to drop him off at the West Palm Beach hotel and wait for him at the gas station across the street. After 15 minutes Samayoa returned to the car.
One witness said Samayoa peeked into a nearby car, and Drummond chastised him for looking at the young girl. Samayoa walked into the hotel and was recorded on surveillance footage wandering.
Samayoa was contacted at his Hollywood home on Jan, 13, 2021, and identified in a lineup on Jan. 17, 2021.
