Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A mother spoke about the loss of her only son and best friend at the sentencing Monday for the man who caused his death, standing beside photos of her son at a dinosaur museum at 3 years old and at his high school graduation.
"Losing my only son, my only child who will ever call me Mom, is the hardest thing I will ever go through. The biggest shock of my lifetime," she said.
Victoria Lawrence said she is inconsolable and has lost multiple jobs and been unable to pay rent because of her grief. She said her son, Rustyn Christopher Opperman, worked three fast food jobs and had earned enough to buy her a car before his death. He had a dream of buying his mother a home.
Lawrence said her son went to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with her, and supported her efforts to stay sober. She said her son hated alcohol more than anything in the world, and asked for the maximum sentence for Anthony Martinez, because alcohol was involved in her son's death.
"Even that is not enough for my son, he was my everything," she said.
About 3 a.m. on May 29, 2022, Unified police were called to the area near 4550 W. 4920 South on a report of a stabbing, charging documents said. Opperman, 20, was found lying in the carport at the residence with a large wound on his back and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Martinez, 22, was sentenced on Monday to one to 15 years in prison for manslaughter, a second-degree felony, after admitting to stabbing Opperman and causing his death. He was given credit for the 646 days he has already spent in jail.
Judge Teresa Welch agreed with prosecutors that he should serve a prison sentence, saying he took a life.
"Mr. Martinez brought a knife to a fistfight," she said.
Welch said she is confident there will never be a story of what happened that night both parties would agreed on; there are a number of discrepancies about what happened including who had provided Martinez alcohol and who started the fight, but she said it is not disputed that Martinez stabbed Opperman.
Deputy Salt Lake County attorney Mikelle Daugherty said Martinez "ruthlessly" stabbed Opperman three times, "viciously ending his life." She talked about one of the stab wounds that had enough force to pierce into Opperman's lung.
Opperman's grandfather, Jay Lawrence, said he was their oldest grandchild, and was spoiled by his aunts and uncles. He talked about a grandson who was an outstanding band student and played chess with his grandfather.
"It is a catastrophic tragedy that he was murdered at such a young age, just when his life was pointing in new and positive, promising directions," he said.
Martinez' attorney, Rudy Bautista, asked for a sentence of one additional year in jail and probation.
Bautista said his client stabbed Opperman three times because he remained on Martinez's father's back. He said Martinez understands he took a life but he believed he was defending his father who was involved in a fight with Opperman.
"That's what was needed to stop the senseless violence against his father," he said.
Martinez's plea to manslaughter, instead of murder as he was initially charged with, is due to what is legally referred to as imperfect self-defense, or a belief he was acting in defense when his actions did not fit the definition of self-defense.
The attorney said in this case, the fight came to Martinez's home, he did not go looking for a fight. Bautista said he feels this case is different from a manslaughter case.
Martinez said he will carry remorse with him for the rest of his life, and would do anything to change what happened that night. He expressed a hope that his actions will help Opperman's family heal.
"This tragic situation has driven me to become a better person," he said before being sentenced.
Martinez also had multiple family members speak on his behalf at the sentencing; his parents and siblings talked about how he had helped their family and others in the past.
