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SALT LAKE CITY — David Serbeck, who was paralyzed in a high-profile shooting as he was patrolling with a neighborhood watch, will serve out consecutive prison sentences for having sex with his teenage neighbor, the Utah Court of Appeals has ruled.
Serbeck's attorney, Nathalie Skibine, argued for a new sentence in April, claiming his previous representation didn't object at trial to implications the Bluffdale man had been stalking teenage girls in the neighborhood at the time of the shooting. Skibine also claimed the sentence was based on unreliable information about Serbeck's history and the possibility that he would reoffend.
Serbeck was found guilty of unlawful sexual activity with a 16- or 17-year-old, a third-degree felony, and was given three sentences of zero to five years in prison.
Two of those sentences were ordered to run concurrently while the third would be served consecutively. Serbeck is now three years into what could end up being 10 years behind bars.
In a decision handed down Thursday, the Utah Court of Appeals ordered Serbeck to serve out that sentence as it was handed down.
"Based on the record before us, we cannot conclude that it was an abuse of discretion for the trial court to impose consecutive sentences," Judge Gregory Orme wrote in the court's decision.
Serbeck and another man were patrolling their neighborhood in an SUV when they came across two teenage girls walking. The daughter said the same SUV later aggressively followed her, prompting her to tell her father, Reginald Campos. The father grabbed his gun and drove around looking for the vehicle, confronting Serbeck and firing two shots at him.
Serbeck was paralyzed from the waist down when one of the bullets hit his spine.
Campos was convicted of attempted murder for shooting Serbeck, but the Utah State Court of Appeals overturned the case in 2013.
Related:
Bluffdale man who shot neighbor released from prison
A man convicted in the shooting of a neighborhood watchman in Bluffdale nearly four years ago was released from prison on Tuesday.It was the shooting, and reports that Serbeck had been following the girls, that prompted Serbec's former neighbor to go to the police about a sexual relationship she had with Serbeck when she was 17. The girl had reportedly befriended Serbeck when she would visit his home to see the snakes he kept as pets. The two eventually kissed and began exchanging text messages, including nude photographs, and met for sex three times.
The relationship ended after a friend discovered nude pictures on her phone and told her parents.
Skibine claimed in April that while defense attorneys asserted at trial that Serbeck was never charged or convicted of a crime in connection with the shooting, it wasn't enough to dispel the suggestion he had acted inappropriately toward the two teen girls.
Assistant attorney general Jeffrey Gray argued it was Serbeck's unapologetic attitude and unwillingness to accept responsibility for his relationship with the girl that earned him the consecutive sentences.
At the time of his sentencing, 3rd District Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills said she was troubled by Serbeck's apparent lack of appreciation for the harm his actions had done and ordered him to prison.
