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SALT LAKE CITY — Jona Hall said her brother was tragically killed less than one month after their mother died — he and his fiance were on their way to help plan the funeral when they were hit and killed.
That was six years ago, but she and her family are still hurting from the loss.
Hall spoke at the sentencing Thursday for three men convicted of murdering her brother and his fiance. She expressed a hope that the three men are still in prison when their mothers die and are unable to grieve with their siblings because, she said, they made a wrong decision and destroyed lives.
"You guys ruined my life, you ruined my life completely. ... He was my rock, he was everything to me," she said about her brother.
In May, an eight-person jury unanimously found Argenis Daniel Ramirez-Saedt, Jose Humberto Mancia and Rosalio Andres Alvarez each guilty of two counts of murder for the deaths of Tami Lynn Woodard, 50, and Lloyd Everett Pace, 55, both of Kearns. The couple was killed Sept. 19, 2017, when their vehicle was hit by a pickup truck the men were in as they tried to flee the scene of a drive-by shooting.
Witnesses told police they saw a Ford F-150 pickup truck approach a known gang house and a man in the back seat fire shots out the window before the truck fled the scene going 44 mph on the 25 mph road, according to charging documents.
The documents said the truck hit a dip in the road after running a stop sign, which sent it into the air and then into a Toyota Yaris. Pace and Woodard were inside the Yaris; both died at the scene of the crash.
The pickup truck was reported stolen, police said. They said the truck was believed to be involved in three other shooting incidents that same day.
Third District Judge Randall Skanchy said no one would walk away from the sentencing on Thursday feeling good about the outcome. He said the three men were young when the crimes occurred — all between the ages of 17 and 20 — and if they had been older, things may have been different.
"It's a tragedy this happened … and it's a tragedy today," he said.
Ramirez-Saedt, 25, was sentenced to at least 15 years in prison and up to life for each of the two counts of murder, a first-degree felony. The judge said those sentences would run consecutively, but he said the time Ramirez-Saedt has already served while the charges were pending fulfills the sentences for his other charges — felony discharge of a firearm and theft, both second-degree felonies.
Ramirez-Saedt did not make any comments at the sentencing. His attorney Elise Lockwood, however, said they are considering appealing the conviction. She said he was still committed to being sentenced on the same date because he did not want to delay the case for the victims' families.
3 convicted of murder in 2017 deaths of Kearns couple
Three documented gang members who were accused of hitting and killing an innocent Kearns couple while fleeing the scene of a drive-by shooting in 2017 have all been convicted of murder.Mancia, 22, had the same convictions as Ramirez-Saedt and was given the same sentences. He expressed condolences to the family and said he is taking classes for social work so he can help others who don't have a support system.
His attorney, Rudy Bautista, said Mancia has been productive over the last six years and is looking forward to proving he is a better person and mentoring people to keep them from making similar mistakes.
Alvarez, 25, was also sentenced to at least 15 years in prison and up to life for each of the two counts of murder — sentences that will also run consecutively. His sentence for felony discharge of a firearm, a second-degree felony, was completed with the credit he was given for time he already served since the incident.
Alvarez apologized to the family of the victim and said he was sorry for his role. "I just want them to know I mean it," he said.
He hoped to be judged for who he currently is and not for the person he was six years earlier, he said.
His attorney, Edward Brass, said Alvarez has made significant changes since he was arrested and turned himself around while in jail. He said Alvarez worked his way into minimum security and got his GED, and then helped tutor others working toward a GED.
Each of the men were ordered to pay about $4,000 to the Utah Office for Victims of Crime.
A fourth man, Jose Luis Muñoz-Lugo, of Salt Lake City, pleaded guilty on Feb. 3, 2020, to two counts of felony discharge of a firearm, both second-degree felonies, in connection with the same incident. He was sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison for each count, to be served concurrently. Initially the prison sentence was placed on hold, but he was unable to complete probation and was later sent to prison.
