Man gets 6-year prison term in shooting death of NAU student

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona man who fatally shot and killed a fellow student on a normally placid college campus after he was punched in the face and heckled has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Steven Jones had faced between five and 10 years behind bars in the October 2015 death of Colin Brough, 20. Rather than risk a potential second-degree murder conviction, Jones pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter in Brough’s death and to three counts of aggravated assault for injuring three others.

“No sentence that I’m going to pronounce here, I’m not kidding myself, I’m not going to flatter myself thinking it’s going to bring peace and closure,” Coconino County Superior Court Judge Dan Slayton said.

Jones displayed little emotion during the hearing, except when his attorney played a video showing him in a police interview the night of the shooting and shortly before hearing his punishment.

Standing before the judge, Jones said it would be disrespectful to the victims and their family to talk about how he personally had been affected by the shooting.

“I should probably just say, if it were possible, I would in a heartbeat trade place with Colin Brough,” he said tearfully. “If he could be home with his family and I could be dead, I would do that. But that’s not possible.”

Jones received six years in prison on the manslaughter charge and five years on each of the three counts of aggravated assault. The sentences will run concurrently. He also gets credit for seven months already served.

In letters and in court Tuesday, Brough’s family and friends pleaded for the lengthiest sentence possible. His mother, Claudia, described how she sank into a deep depression after her son died, withdrew from everyone and tried to end her own life.

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