The owner of a Utah County dance hall and events center has been sentenced to up to life in prison for shooting and killing a former employee.
At trial last year, Ramon Somoza said he was acting in self-defense when he shot 46-year-old Jesus Landin in the basement of the Apollo dance hall in American Fork.
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But a jury convicted Somoza — who left Landin’s body in the basement for days before wrapping it in plastic and tape and dumping it in the desert near Wendover — of felony counts of murder, obstruction of justice and desecration of a dead human body.
Somoza, 31, later argued that he received ineffective assistance at trial and was appointed new attorneys, who argued for a new trial.
On Monday, 4th District Judge Lynn Davis rejected those arguments and sentenced Samoza to 15 years to life on the murder count. He ordered the sentences for the lesser counts to run after the murder sentence.
At trial, attorneys argued divergent theories on the shooting and the men involved.
Prosecutors called Landin a hard-working family man, who sent his earnings back to his wife in Mexico. Defense attorneys called him a man "who bullied and tormented others to get his way."
On the stand, Somoza testified that Landin charged at him with a screwdriver. But prosecutors said Somoza plotted to kill Landin because he worried that the man was trying to ruin his business and the two men were arguing over a debt of $400.
Somoza said he was in denial about the shooting and tried to "block it" until he had disposed of Landin’s body.
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