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UTAH STATE PRISON — Reggie Campos, who was once convicted of shooting neighborhood watchman David Serbeck in a confrontation, has been granted parole.
The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole said Monday that Reggie would be released from the Utah State Prison on July 22, 2014, almost five years to the day of Reggie and Serbeck's late-night confrontation in the middle of a street in their Bluffdale neighborhood. The two men lived five minutes apart but had never met each other until that night.
Reggie, 44, shot Serbeck — who is now permanently paralyzed from the waist down — and pointed his gun at another man who was with Serbeck. The confrontation began when Reggie believed a stranger was pursuing his frightened teenage daughter. He claimed he was acting in self-defense.
Reggie was convicted of aggravated assault and sentenced up to five years in prison. When he is released, he will have served four years. His family was was optimistic about his release date.
"There is a light at the end of the tunnel because he's paroled," said Reggie's brother Conrad Compos. "We have a date but even the date is written in pencil."
Reggie was also convicted of attempted murder with injury, a first-degree felony, and sentenced in 2010 to three years to life in prison, which was to be served consecutively with his aggravated assault sentence.
But last month, the Utah Court of Appeals overturned the attempted murder conviction and said Reggie was eligible for a new trial, agreeing that he was deprived of his constitutional right to effective legal counsel. His conviction on aggravated assault — for pointing the gun at the second man — was upheld.
Related:
Bluffdale man who shot neighbor gets 3 years to life in prison
A Bluffdale man found guilty of attempted murder will spend three years to life in prison. In an unexpected twist, serious allegations were raised against the victim just after the sentencing.Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said on Sept. 12 that his office had not yet decided whether it would retry Reggie.
"The decision to try or not try a case is tied to looking at the whole totality of the case," Gill said.
Conrad said his family is looking forward to Reggie's release so they can move on with their lives.
"They're just looking forward to getting back to being normal everyday people as best as possible," Conrad said.
Serbeck is also in prison, serving time for an unrelated case involving sexual contact with a teenage girl. He was sentenced in 2012 to up to 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a 16- or 17-year-old, a third-degree felony. His next parole hearing is scheduled for September 2015.
