TACOMA – A judge said she didn’t have enough prison time to give a man who killed a convenience store clerk in a botched robbery. The same man is expected to plead guilty in the death of a former teacher in Ocean Shores.
Paul Allen Bryant, 30, of Puyallup, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the shooting of Leonardo Velazquez-Vazquez, was sentenced Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court to 421/2 years in prison, the maximum under state guidelines.
“There’s not enough time I could give you for taking an innocent man’s life in cold blood,” Judge Beverly Grant said.
Velazquez-Vazquez was gunned down in front of his 10-year-old nephew Nov. 11 in a botched robbery attempt at the Plaza Guerrero Mexican, a convenience store in suburban Midland. He had emigrated from Mexico nine months earlier.
Bryant said he was sorry but offered no explanation or elaboration. “I would just like to apologize, that’s all,” he said, repeating those words when Grant encouraged him to say more.
In an agreement with prosecutors, Bryant also has said he will plead guilty to first-degree murder Feb. 3 in Grays Harbor County Superior Court for the shooting of Mary Utschinski, a retired teacher. He could get 48 years for that killing.
Utschinski was shot Nov. 15 at her home in Ocean Shores. Bryant was arrested later that day at an apartment in Ocean City.
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