A Colorado man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison after shooting a 71-year-old veteran in the head two years ago.
Joseph Maestas Sanchez, 24, was breaking into a car belonging to Michael Lewis’s neighbor in Broomfield when Lewis stepped in, the Denver Post reported.
Sanchez shot Lewis and fled, leaving him dead at the scene.
Colorado’s 17th Judicial District Attorney’s office found Sanchez guilty of first-degree aggravated motor vehicle theft and criminal trespass. Sanchez was also charged with second-degree murder, but the jury could not agree on a verdict. After a retrial, he was convicted of manslaughter.
“I wanted second-degree murder,” Alissa Lorenz, Lewis’s daughter, told KDVR. “He shot my dad.”
The retrial was held on August 28 and lasted for four days, CBS News reported. It took the jury two days to agree on manslaughter, a lesser offense than second-degree murder.
District Attorney Brian Mason called Sanchez’s actions horrific.
“Michael Lewis was simply looking out for his neighborhood and was brutally gunned down by this defendant,” Mason said in the release. “My deepest thoughts and sincerest condolences remain with the loved ones of Michael Lewis as they continue to deal with this unimaginable loss.”
Lewis proudly served in the army in the 60s and 70s, 9News reported. He was active in the community, and he was a regular spectator at sporting events at Broomfield High School.
“It’s not just us that’s hurting – it’s the whole community, and that’s why this is so important because there are good people out there, really good people, and he was one of them,” Lorenz told 9News.
An amateur softball league was created in Lewis’s memory.
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