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TOOELE - A 19-year-old Tooele man who admitted killing another man last year - partly by accident and partly in self-defense - was sentenced Tuesday to prison for four to 50 years.
The defense called Daniel Herrera a troubled young man who had no intention of fatally shooting 24-year-old Richard Martinez last September at Settlement Reservoir.
Herrera - who pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter and two other second-degree felonies - claims he fired in panic when Martinez sicced two pitbull dogs on him, and hit Martinez by mistake.
"It was a spontaneous and unplanned offense," said defense attorney Ed Brass. "A single shot in the dark."
But prosecutors characterized 19-year-old Herrera - whose juvenile record includes an armed robbery and several aggravated assaults - as someone who had chosen violence as a way of life.
Deputy Tooele County Attorney Gary Searle asked for consecutive prison terms so the effect of the cumulative time would be similar to that of the first-degree felony murder conviction Herrera avoided by accepting a plea deal.
Brass said consecutive terms for manslaughter, illegal possession of a firearm and obstructing justice "seems extreme."
But after hearing tearful entreaties from the victim's family members, 3rd District Judge Mark Kouris ordered the three convictions to run back-to-back, and included a weapon enhancement that added one-to-five years to the manslaughter conviction.
"These are people whose hearts have been torn out," Kouris said of the victim's family.
"It doesn't make sense to me," he said of the slaying. "It's absolutely pointless."
Prosecutors claim Herrera went to the reservoir to confront Martinez on Sept. 20, 2005, after Herrera's brother had a run-in with Martinez at the dam. But Brass told The Tribune that Martinez was the aggressor that day, trying to pick a fight with Herrera's brother and screaming obscenities at other people.
Herrera's sister, Yolanda Herrera, claimed Martinez and his friends were bullies who had "picked on" her small-statured brother since grade school.
"He's a little guy, and they used to beat him up," she said.
Martinez's mother, Lori Martinez, characterized her only son as "an angel" who loved life.
The victim's aunt, DeeDee Garcia, called Martinez "one of the friendliest people you could ever want to meet. He would do anything for anyone."
Herrera chose not to address the court.
Police are still investigating a July 2 shooting episode in which Herrera's mother and his brother-in-law were wounded while camping.
Searle has said it is plausible the shooting was in retaliation for the slaying of Martinez.