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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A southern Utah man was sentenced Tuesday to two terms of life in prison without parole in the shooting deaths of his wife and stepson.
Richard Andrew Jones, 50, pleaded no contest to two aggravated murder charges in September in the slayings of Michelle Jones, 42, and Owen Christopher Ellis, 19, at their Washington City home in February 2011. Judge Eric Ludlow decided the terms will run consecutively.
Richard Jones was found in the home's garage with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chin and head. He said at a hearing Tuesday he couldn't remember the killings, maintaining that he believes he was drunk in Las Vegas that night.
Richard Jones acknowledged, however, that prosecutors had amassed significant evidence against him, the Spectrum of St. George reported (http://bit.ly/11T8j6d ).
"If I'm responsible for these two deaths, then I need to be punished for it," he said. "Two beautiful people are gone and can never come back. If I am responsible, then I am deeply sorry."
Prosecutors say Richard Jones shot Ellis six times after a fight, leaving the teenager dead on his bed. Michelle Jones tried to run out of the house, calling 911 on her cellphone, but police said Richard Jones followed her to the driveway and killed her.
Richard Jones could have faced the death penalty in the case, but his wife's family asked prosecutors not to seek it.
Ellis' father, meanwhile, asked the judge for the severest sentence possible on Tuesday.
"I'll never see him get married. I'll never have grandchildren by him," said Christopher Ellis, the Spectrum reported, saying Richard Jones caused his own memory loss the night of the killings.
The defendant's son, Dillon Jones, asked the judge to allow for the possibility of eventual release from prison.
Ludlow sided with prosecutors who said Richard Jones killed two people he should have been taking care of.
"You violently took the lives of two innocent people," Ludlow said. "Mr. Jones, you will die as an inmate of the Utah State Prison. That is a sobering reality."
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Information from: The Spectrum, http://www.thespectrum.com
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