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SALT LAKE CITY — A mother held up a photo of her son fishing on Monday and told a Salt Lake judge how her son sent that photo to her days before his death. It was the last message she ever got from him.
"We are here, but we are dead because we're missing part of our hearts," Maria Higareda said, through a translator.
Higareda continued on to say that when her son was taken, some of her heart was too. She said Fernando Amaya-Higareda — 23 years old when he died — was good, loving and respectful.
"We simply want justice," she said.
Joseph Palmer, 17, was found guilty of murder in June for the July 2021 shooting death of Amaya-Higareda. Monday, 3rd District Judge Todd Shaughnessy sentenced Palmer to between 15 years and life in prison for the first-degree felony; between one and 15 years in prison for a charge of obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; and between three and five years prison for three counts of felony discharge of a firearm.
Shaughnessy said the sentences would run concurrently and gave the teenager credit for the more than two years he has already served in police custody.
On July 6, 2021, Palmer and his friend were walking on the street, pushing a bike in Murray when a confrontation began with a man in a truck, who turned out to be Amaya-Higareda.
Palmer kicked the truck as Amaya-Higareda started to drive away. He then pulled a gun out of the backpack he was carrying and fired about four rounds at the truck, the charges state. Charges said the shots hit the driver's side door of the truck; one of the shots caused the death of Amaya-Higareda.
The man's father, Fernando Amaya, said his life has changed that day. Now, he just works and comes home; "it's not life," he said.
Amaya said he was able to save his son's life once with CPR, but this time he was not present to help. He was sleeping when his son was shot. The father said he learned about his son's death from his wife after helping her calm down enough to talk.
Amaya told the judge he wanted the teenager who shot and killed his son to be incarcerated for his life. He said if there is no punishment for killing one person, Palmer would kill again.
"This guy didn't care. He don't think. Because he has a gun, he can do whatever he wants. No. It's not right, it's not right," Amaya said.
Salt Lake City deputy district attorney Byron Burmester said a memorial at a park was destroyed two days after the verdict and asked the judge to order Palmer not to have any indirect contact with the victim's family because of that.
Shaughnessy made that order and told the family he was sorry the court could not do more for them. "This is an unimaginable tragedy," he said.
Palmer chose not to make any comments at his sentencing.
Palmer's attorney said he was 15 and homeless at the time of the shooting and had extensive trauma and anxiety, which was shy he had a gun. Letters about Palmer from people who interacted with him while he was incarcerated say he is working to improve family relations, has been successful with therapy and wants to be the first in his family to attend college.
Rudy Bautista, who represented Palmer at the trial, previously argued that the shooting was an act of self-defense. The attorney told an eight-person jury that Palmer had been shot at two days prior to the situation involving Amaya-Higara. That interaction happening directly after the first shooting was "highly provoking," Bautista said, and argued that Palmer had the right to use deadly force.
The jury ultimately disagreed and found Palmer did not act in "imperfect self-defense" in this case, meaning it was not a situation where he could have reasonably believed his actions were self-defense.
