This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

West Jordan • A jury on Friday decided a Sandy man was guilty of manslaughter in the fatal 2014 shooting of a roommate.

Larry Kent Graff, 54, originally was charged in 3rd District Court with one count of murder, a first-degree felony, for the Dec. 18, 2014, death of 26-year-old Candice Christina Melo and one count of attempted murder, also a first-degree felony, for shooting at but missing Melo's boyfriend, Michael Grimsley, during the same incident. The jury was permitted to consider finding Graff guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter, a second-degree felony, in the death of Melo — which it did.

In connection with Grimsley, the jury was permitted to consider attempted manslaughter or aggravated assault, second-degree felonies, in place of the attempted murder charge, but the panel was hung on that aspect.

It's "too early to comment" on whether the state will retry the count, according to Blake Nakamura, chief deputy of the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.

Graff is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 10, when he faces a punishment of one to 15 years in prison for his manslaughter conviction.

"Under the circumstances ... it's the verdict that we asked the jury to find, and we're comfortable with that," said defense attorney Greg Skordas. "It wasn't an issue of not guilty; we knew that he'd caused her death."

Prosecutors were also "comfortable" leaving Graff's fate in the hands of the jury, Nakamura said, though it wasn't the outcome they'd hoped for.

"We weren't surprised by [the verdict]," Nakamura said. "The facts presented a difficult case."

Skordas had argued that the case is one of "imperfect self-defense," and that, given the circumstances surrounding the shooting — that Graff believed he was being robbed — his actions might be considered reasonable.

The trial began Tuesday.

Melo was struck three times — in the leg, back and head — in the 300 East block of Gary Avenue (9400 South), falling onto the driveway.

She had been a temporary roommate of Graff and his girlfriend, Tennel Jensen.

The 7 a.m. shooting followed an argument between Melo and Jensen.

On Thursday, Graff testified that he woke to hear Jensen screaming for help and that when he went to her aid he was frightened and believed Melo, Grimsley and another man planned to rob him.

A concealed weapon permit holder, Graff said he had pointed a .22-caliber pistol at Melo and told her and the others to get out of his house.

"I was scared as can be," Graff testified. "I have never been that scared before."

Graff said he was afraid, in part, because Jensen has a drug problem and that many of the people she brought to their home were drug users with histories of violent crime.

When Melo darted from the house with his laptop, Graff said, he gave chase.

"I was firing my .22. I was running, I was firing low. I was aiming low, not high," he testified. "I just wanted to chase them out of the house so that they were going to go and not come back."

On cross-examination, Graff said he didn't realize Melo had been hit because her pace didn't slow. Graff said he thinks a bullet struck Melo in the head as she fell to the ground.

"When I see her fall down," he testified, "I stop shooting."

Graff said he then heard Grimsley shouting behind him and turned, his finger still on the trigger.

"I was surprised I fired," he testified. "I wasn't sure if he was going to charge me."

Graff also told jurors that, based on his weapon permit training class, he believed he had a right to defend his home and property.

"My understanding from the class is that your home is your castle and you have a right to protect your castle," Graff testified. "I assumed that when I kept on telling these people to leave my house, the rules applied; that they were there to do grave bodily harm [to me] and I had the right to use force."

Graff called 911 immediately after the shooting and told dispatchers he had shot Melo and needed an ambulance, Skordas told jurors.

Melo may have lain in the driveway for about an hour without medical care, according to trial testimony, because the officers who responded to her shooting believed she was already dead.

She was pronounced dead about eight hours later at Alta View Hospital.