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Provo » Two dozen family members filed into an inmate holding area to embrace Colton Jesse Louder before he went to prison Tuesday. It was a rare scene for any courtroom, but especially so in this case.
Earlier this year, the 25-year-old Lehi man fatally shot his uncle during a drug-fueled chase in Pleasant Grove. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to five years to life in prison for killing 45-year-old Jeffery Boyd Ackerman on Feb. 27.
But family members have not only forgiven Louder, the slaying has "actually brought us closer," said his mother, Suzanne Louder.
She made the unusual request for the family to hug Louder because her elderly and hard-of-hearing father has had a difficult time communicating with him during jail visits.
Colton Louder said he got a "fair shake" from the justice system and apologized to his family.
"I was at the wrong place at the wrong time," he told 4th District Judge Fred Howard. "This was not normal behavior for me. But I did make a horrible mistake."
For unknown reasons, Ackerman, who lived at his parents' home in Pleasant Grove, began chasing his nephew. The chase ended several blocks away, when Louder turned and shot his uncle five times in the torso and right arm with a .45-caliber handgun.
Louder, who left the gun on the hood of a car in the parking lot of a medical clinic, was arrested more than an hour later in American Fork.
The judge said the illegal drug use "exacerbated the victim's anger and the shooter's paranoia."
Jeff Wilson said his nephew was carrying a gun that day because he had cashed an $800 tax return and was afraid someone might steal his money.
Louder's mother said Ackerman, who started using drugs in high school, had a temper and that younger family members grew up in fear of him.
Louder's father, Jesse Louder, expressed a common feeling amongst the family: "If only Jeff hadn't chased Colton, things would have turned out different."
But prosecutor Jared Perkins countered: "If only Colton hadn't been high on meth and carrying a gun, Jeff would still be with us."
Louder was charged with first-degree felony murder. By pleading guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree felony manslaughter, he avoided a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in prison.
