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A man tied to the shooting death of a woman after he and others entered the wrong house while looking for rival gang members was sentenced to prison Wednesday for his role in the crime.
Pailate K. Lomu, 27, pleaded guilty to second-degree felony manslaughter and second-degree felony burglary in the July 19, 2009 death of 21-year-old Krystal Flores, who was shot in the head while she was sleeping on a couch in a Salt Lake City home.
On Wednesday, 3rd District Judge Randall Skanchy sentenced Lomu to a 2-to-20 year prison term for each of the offenses, but ordered that the sentences run concurrent to another. He ordered that the sentences run consecutive, however, to several unrelated prison terms that Lomu is already serving.
Lomu was not the accused triggerman, according to court records, but drove the group of four men to a neighborhood seeking revenge on rival gang members after he was targeted in a prior shooting. Prosecutor Vincent Meister told the judge on Wednesday that the group of men had been partying before they arrived at the home near 1300 South and 1500 West and were intoxicated.
"They were so drunk and so inept they got the wrong house," Meister said. "[There was] a young lady lying on a couch who was shot in the back of the head while she was sleeping."
Co-defendant Nitokalisi Niki Fonua has told police that he quickly realized they had the wrong house and started to leave. But Fonua said he fired a rifle shot to scare Flores because he thought she was on the phone with police, according to prosecutors.
Flores died at a hospital on Aug. 2, 2009.
Fonua in April also was sentenced to a two-to-20-year prison term for the death. A third co-defendant, 35-year-old Alexander Bloomfield, is set to go to trial on Aug. 1. No court dates are currently set for a fourth defendant, George Blake Angilau, 25.
Lomu cried Wednesday as he apologized to Flores' family.
"I am not in a position to cry about stuff or ask for sympathy," he said as he fiddled with the handcuffs restraining his arms behind his back. "But I'm sorry for all the stuff I feel I was affiliated with. I was young, stupid, ignorant and lost."
Lomu's attorneys had asked that judge run the sentences concurrent to his other crimes, saying that the defendant has never been a gang member and that he is trying to better himself in prison. Meister said any leniency should come from the parole board, and asked for consecutive sentences.
Flores' mother played a video of her daughter in court on Wednesday — a video that she says she has watched every single day since her daughter was killed.
"I think about her every night," Estela Flores told the judge through a Spanish interpretor.
No one in the home saw the actual shooting, but witnesses identified Bloomfield and Lomu as the men who broke in.
Court documents have pointed to Bloomfield as the likely triggerman, because he was armed with a rifle, the same type of weapon that fired the fatal .22-caliber round.
Fonua has also said that he had a rifle, but prosecutors say it is possible that more than one gun was fired. Lomu reportedly was carrying a handgun, as well as Angilau, who allegedly admitted to firing his gun at a rival gang member while he was outside acting as a lookout.