MARIANNA — A Marianna man who was convicted of killing Blake Allen Cain and shooting at a dozen others in 2020 received his fate in a Jackson County courtroom on Tuesday.
Steven Mantecon, 23, was handed a life in prison sentence, plus an additional 80 years.
According to State Attorney Larry Basford, Circuit Court Judge Ana Maria Garcia granted prosecutor Shalla Jefcoat’s request to sentence Mantecon to life in prison with a minimum-mandatory 25 years under Florida’s 10-20-Life law.
Garcia then sentenced the defendant to 15 years each on two counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle, and ordered both of those to be served consecutive to each other and the first sentence.
Background on the case: It started with Snapchat fights over a ring. It ended with a killing and conviction in Jackson County
Related sentencing: Shooter convicted, gets life sentence in 2020 Holmes County homicide. Here's what happened.
Garcia followed by adding five years in prison for each of the 10 aggravated assault with a firearm charges, and ordered that each one of them be served consecutive to the others. That means each sentence will be served individually, one after the other.
In a February trial, Jefcoat and co-prosecutor Lawrence Gill proved that the defendant and Cain had agreed to a fight the night of the shooting to settle a dispute over a ring Cain had given his former girlfriend — the defendant’s sister.
According to prosecutors, Mantecon drove to a park where Cain and others were gathered, argued with the victim, and without getting out of his truck opened fire from about 10 yards away with a semi-automatic AK47-style rifle.
Three of those shots hit Cain, killing him almost instantly. Every bullet fired either hit the victim or vehicles driven by Cain's friends.
At the sentencing on Tuesday, Cain's grandfather told Judge Garcia that the family’s loss is unimaginable.
“He took a lot away from me, but he took a lot away from a lot of other people too,” he said. “It was a $40 ring I gave to him. … This was all over a stupid ring. But you have no regard for life if you do what (the defendant) did.
“I just thank God Blake was the only one killed, even though I lost my grandson. And you don’t have any idea how bad that feels. They say it gets easier over time, but that’s a lie. It doesn’t get easier, it gets worse.”
Jefcoat asked for the maximum sentence, telling Judge Garcia that many lives were changed forever that day and that was evident in the surviving victims’ testimony during trial.
“Mistakes were made that day,” Jefcoat said. “But Mr. Mantecon made choices that ended in his taking a life.”
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Jackson County man sentenced to life in prison in 2020 shooting death
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