This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Michael Lewis was not a perfect person or a perfect son, his mother said Tuesday. He made mistakes.
"The biggest was trusting people he shouldn't have trusted," Lewis' mother, Vicki Tippy, told a courtroom, "and he paid for that with his life."
Lewis was stabbed to death and his body placed in a trash can on March 6, 2004.
On Tuesday, his former fiancée, Brittany Lin Snyder, was sentenced to prison for up to 15 years after pleading guilty to second-degree felony manslaughter.
Snyder, 32, and her uncle, Clint Veon Snyder, 53, were each charged earlier this year in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony murder, but resolved their cases with plea agreements.
Charging documents say Lewis had last been seen by family on March 6, when he left to go to Brittany Snyder's home and then did not show up for work the following day.
There were references in the courtroom Tuesday to Brittany Snyder being fearful of Lewis. But in court papers, a witness told investigators that Brittany Snyder was angry with Lewis, and had arranged to meet him in a house in the 5300 block of Hamlin Street (570 West) on March 6.
In the basement of the home, Snyder sprayed Lewis in the face with pepper spray before Clint Snyder grabbed him from behind and pulled him to the floor, prosecutors say.
Clint Snyder then pinned Lewis to the floor so he could not move while Brittany Snyder stabbed him several times, charges state.
Clint Snyder, whose entered an Alford plea, which means he did not admit guilt but acknowledged that there is enough evidence to convict him, was sentenced last month to a suspended one-to-15-year prison sentence and a $5,000, as part of a three years probation.
In her statement Tuesday to Judge Paul Parker, Tippy recalled how the Snyders acted as though they were grieving for her son. Instead, Tippy told the judge, Brittany Snyder "just pumped me for information" about the police investigation.
Defense attorney Lacey Singleton told Parker that drug use was a factor in her client killing Lewis, but that Brittany Snyder had "struggled" with what happened for 12 years.
When Brittany Snyder addressed the judge, she said she had been a victim of child abuse and that "put me down this path." She apologized for what happened to Lewis.
"I know I will never be able to fix it, but I am sorry," she told the judge.
Parker also sentenced Snyder to pay $5,991 to a crime victims' restitution fund.
Twitter: @natecarlisle