A person who carried out a deadly taking pictures in San Diego’s East Village virtually three years in the past was sentenced Friday to 38 years to life in jail.
In April, a jury discovered Tyler Cosby, 26, responsible of first-degree homicide within the demise of 37-year-old Vista resident Samuel Burkhalter.
On Dec. 1, 2020, Burkhalter was discovered shot on the entrance of a parking storage close to 1400 G St.
Responding officers and fireplace personnel carried out first assist on Burkhalter, however he died on the scene, mentioned San Diego police Lt. Andra Brown.
Witnesses reported seeing a person in a darkish hooded sweatshirt and a black hat working via the storage following the taking pictures, then fleeing the realm to the west on Market Avenue, Brown mentioned. Cosby was arrested two days later.
The 38-year sentence contains 25 years to life for the first-degree homicide conviction, a 10-year gun enhancement and three years for a narcotics and gross sales cost. Cosby was additionally ordered to pay fines, charges and $10,000 in restitution, and should should pay extra pending the end result of a future courtroom listening to.
Pippa Cunningham, deputy district legal professional, mentioned the sufferer’s household was happy with the sentence.
Members of the Burkhalter and Cosby households had been in courtroom for the sentencing.
Earlier within the listening to, Cosby’s legal professional, Jan Ronis, mentioned the query was whether or not his consumer’s life was salvageable.
Cosby suffered critical childhood trauma from an damage after which fell into drug use, however is a distinct particular person as we speak and “one of many nicest younger males you possibly can know,” Ronis mentioned. “His life may be redeemed.”
Superior Courtroom Choose Joan P. Weber Friday rejected the 50-year minimal sentence requested by the District Legal professional’s Workplace.
Weber mentioned Cosby had no prior prison report, was simply 23 on the time of the taking pictures, had skilled trauma after being hit by a truck as a toddler and later wrestled with extreme drug use.
Earlier than handing down the sentence, Weber described the listening to — which included sufferer affect statements from Burkhalter’s spouse and different relations — as emotional.
Weber mentioned that as a decide, she has sat at her bench many instances and seen the tragedy of drug abuse, with each the defendant and sufferer having handled fentanyl dependancy.
“With out that, we might haven’t have a lifeless father of three, and a person spending the remainder of his life behind bars,” Weber mentioned. “There aren’t any winners as we speak.”
“This was an execution,” Weber mentioned of Cosby’s actions, including he shot Burkhalter twice earlier than taking pictures him proper between the eyes.
Burkhalter’s spouse, Jamie, instructed the courtroom of her and daughters’ anguish after Samuel’s demise.
Cosby is “wholly accountable or that night time” that modified everybody’s life endlessly, by taking pictures a person who thought he was serving to a pal, Jamie Burkhalter mentioned.
She famous how her late husband was a basic contractor whose best pleasure was being a dad.
“He was form, he was humorous and he cherished so onerous,” Jamie Burkhalter mentioned.
Jamie Burkhalter mentioned her daughters won’t ever hear their father’s voice once more, and “their sentence is endlessly.”
She additionally accused Cosby of fixing his story about what occurred, “as a result of the reality would have required acceptance.”
The mom additionally learn a letter from considered one of her daughters to Cosby.
“Tyler, you disgust me past all comprehension,” the woman wrote. “You left my household in shambles, and also you need to rot in jail.”
Certainly one of Burkhalter’s sisters instructed the courtroom that she hoped her brother would beat his dependancy, however Cosby took that hope away. She added that her life has been crammed with continuous nightmares, and that she hoped Cosby’s life would be the identical.
“You took a vital particular person from the world,” the lady instructed Cosby.
One other Burkhalter member of the family who was not in courtroom requested for leniency in a letter to the courtroom. The girl wrote that there was “no quantity of retribution to Tyler Cosby that may carry peace to me or my household.”
Addressing the courtroom, Cosby mentioned he apologized “to everybody who knew and cherished Sam.”
Cosby, who was crying, mentioned that nothing he may do or say to make the Burkhalter household really feel higher, “and I really feel horrible about that.”
Cosby mentioned he hoped that his sentence would assist carry closure to the sufferer’s household, and likewise apologized to his family members who had been in courtroom.
Metropolis Information Service contributed to this text.
