Accidental shooting gets man 6 years
Her 17-year-old daughter was killed last summer in an unintentional shooting on the South Side.
The shot was fired by the girl’s 18- yearold boyfriend as he carelessly unloaded and loaded a 9mm handgun.
On Tuesday, the girl’s mother stood in a Franklin
County courtroom and tearfully asked a judge to show mercy toward Thomas P. Gutierrez after he pleaded guilty to reckless homicide with a gun specification in the death of Daylee Newman.
“I know this was an accident,” said Darian Newman, of Hilliard. “I know that he loved her. I know he’s a product of his environment. I know that at 18 you have to take responsibility for yourself, but I also feel that as a community, we failed him, too.”
Common Pleas Judge Julie M. Lynch sentenced Gutierrez to six years in prison. The sentence was part of a plea agreement negotiated by Assistant Prosecutor Keith McGrath and defense attorney Robert
Krapenc. It includes an opportunity for Gutierrez to apply for judicial release after serving three years and six months.
Gutierrez, who turned 19 on Sunday, wiped away tears as Darian Newman spoke. He declined to make a statement in court.
Darian Newman wept at the back of the courtroom when deputy sheriffs led Gutierrez to jail, where he will be held until his transfer to a state prison.
“He has to be punished, but I’m not sure prison is the right place,” she said afterward. “This was a mistake.”
She had told the judge she worried that prison time could make
Gutierrez “something that he wasn’t already.”
The shooting occurred about 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 2 at Gutierrez’s home in the 400 block of East Markison Avenue. Gutierrez, Daylee Newman and others had been smoking marijuana there, McGrath said.
Gutierrez was ejecting the clip from the handgun, cleaning the bullets, putting the clip back, twirling and “generally playing with the weapon,” when it discharged, he said. Daylee was leaving the room when the fatal bullet passed through her arm and chest.
She was less than one month from beginning her senior year at Upper Arlington High School.
The judge became increasingly emotional as she addressed Gutierrez and members of both families.
“This clearly was not malicious; there was no evil intent behind this,” Lynch said. “But guess what? This is what happens when you mess with guns. ... If there is any way to save the future, it’s to get these young people to understand that a gun is not a wardrobe accessory. ... Folks, when you mix whatever mood-altering chemicals that are out there and you start horsing around with a gun, very rarely do good things happen.”
Regarding the chance for early release, she cautioned Gutierrez that “if you get in trouble in the institution, this deal is off.”
Lynch encouraged him to get his GED in prison, “then work your way up from there. Don’t waste this time.”