Ice cream truck driver who killed two brothers in mistaken identification case sentenced to life in jail

A former ice cream truck driver convicted of killing two folks and severely wounding 4 others in a 2010 Florida capturing was sentenced Friday to life in jail, greater than 12 years after the assault.

Michael Keetley was convicted in March of two counts of homicide and 4 counts of tried homicide.

“This has been a really lengthy highway and a really tough case,” Decide Christopher Sabella mentioned whereas saying the sentence. “What it exhibits to the victims on this case is that justice is just not at all times swift, however justice is finally served.”

Sabella sentenced Keetley to life in jail for every of the six counts he confronted, with no risk of parole.

Juan Guitron, 28, and Sergio Guitron, 22, have been fatally shot, and 4 others have been severely wounded in November 2010 on the entrance porch of a house in Ruskin, Florida, as they celebrated the Thanksgiving vacation.

Prosecutors argued that Keetley dedicated the assault in a case of mistaken identification that was the lethal end result of an obsession with revenge. Keetley had been robbed and shot a couple of yr earlier than the murders and was annoyed with the official investigation of the theft, prosecutors mentioned, and determined to take issues into his personal arms.

The previous ice cream man grew to become satisfied, falsely, {that a} man nicknamed “Creeper” was behind the theft and was out to seek out him that evening in November 2010. The folks killed and injured had nothing to do with Keetley’s theft, prosecutors mentioned. Nor did the person nicknamed Creeper, who was not among the many six males shot on the home in Ruskin, police mentioned.

The protection argued the survivors of the capturing recognized the flawed man and that Keetley was not able to committing the assault due to accidents he sustained when he was shot and robbed months earlier. 

“That is our protection, Michael Keetley is just not responsible as a result of he didn’t do it. Michael Keetley didn’t do it, he couldn’t do it. He’s not medically succesful,” protection legal professional John Grant mentioned throughout trial.

Richard Escobar, one other member of the protection, argued that legislation enforcement made a number of errors after the 2010 assault, saying “the investigation that adopted was nothing wanting a nightmare itself.”

Earlier than the sentence was handed down Friday, a decide denied motions for a brand new trial and for an acquittal. 

Attorneys for Keetley mentioned after sentencing that they intend to enchantment.

Paz Quezada, the mom of Juan and Sergio Guitron, addressed Keetley immediately through the sentencing listening to, telling him that he “took half of my life” and “destroyed my coronary heart.”

“My sons have been the one factor I had,” Quezada mentioned. “I beloved them with all of my coronary heart.”

Quezada informed NBC Information forward of the sentencing that Friday was additionally her birthday, and her solely want is one she has held onto because the evening of the assault: that the person who tore her tight-knit household aside be put away for the remainder of his life. 

“It’s the perfect reward God might give me,” Quezada mentioned by means of tears. She mentioned she prayed for the energy to stay to see the day her sons would have justice. “I preserve combating for my sons. I’ll always remember them.”