80yrs for soldier's murderer

**213th** · 02-12-11, 10:45 AM

An Anchorage judge sentenced a man Friday afternoon for the 2008 shooting death of a Fort Richardson military policeman.
State Superior Court Judge Jack Smith sentenced Vongdeuane Vongthongdy, 28, to 80 years in prison total, with no probation or time suspended. An Anchorage jury in October found Vongthongdy guilty of first-degree murder for killing Sgt. Evan Minnear, 24, and guilty of being drunk and a felon in possession of a weapon.

The shooting occurred outside a downtown bar in November 2008, 16 days after Vongthongdy's release from jail for a probation violation.
Minnear approached Vongthongdy outside the Woodshed bar after Vongthongdy fired a .40-caliber pistol in the air. There was some shoving, and Vongthongdy shot Minnear in the chest.
Vongthongdy jumped in a car, but as it sped off, a police lieutenant saw it fishtail and pulled the car over, catching the suspect within minutes of the shooting.
Minnear, whose 15-month tour in Iraq ended the previous spring, died at a hospital.
Before he deployed to Iraq in 2007, Minnear visited family and friends in Indiana, his mother, Julie Rushton, told the judge Friday.
"We had no idea that would be the last time we would see him," Rushton said.
The family was thrilled to hear Minnear made it back from Iraq unscathed. But Rushton said it was like a movie when a car with military officials pulled up to her house several months later to tell her Evan was dead.
"Your honor, I don't think this defendant will ever know what he has taken from me and my family," Rushton said.
Friends, family and fellow soldiers filled the courtroom.
Minnear's younger brother James briefly addressed the court via phone.

"I promised to join the Army if anything ever happened to Evan," he said. "I've been in the Army seven months now, trying every day to be half the soldier my brother was."
His brother was a "key individual" to his platoon, said Sgt. Dustin Leishman, who testified to the impact on Minnear's fellow troops.
"Four months after his soldiers placed him in the ground, his soldiers had to go to combat without their leader, without their morale, without the guy that picked them up when they were down," Leishman said.
Vongthongdy apologized in a written statement, read by his court-appointed attorney, Leslie Hiebert. Vongthongdy said he wished he could take back what he'd done.
"I did not mean to take away your son," Hiebert said, reading the statement.
The convicted murderer's sister, Savanhnary Vongthongdy, spoke to the court on her family's behalf, saying they were deeply sorry for what her brother had done. "My brother's not an evil person, and he is very loving and caring, and he has a son and misses him daily," she said, standing at a lectern in court.
"Really?" said Rushton, the victim's mother, who was seated in the court gallery.
"Yes," Savanhnary said, sobbing. "I'm so sorry that this happened."
Rushton said she wanted the maximum sentence of 99 years that prosecutor James Fayette requested, but she was not upset by Judge Smith's sentence.
"I really wanted to hear him say 99 years, but 80 years, it's OK," Rushton said.
Rushton didn't believe what Vongthongdy said regarding his feelings about the murder.
"I don't think through this whole thing he's shown any remorse," she said

Read more: Man sentenced to 80 years for killing soldier: Military | adn.com