Marco Garcia-Bravo Sentenced After Taking Plea Deal In Trial For Execution-Style Murders
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - A judge sentenced Marco Garcia-Bravo, 24, to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder of two high school students. The murders happened four years ago in the spring of 2017.
Garcia-Bravo was charged in the execution-style deaths of 15-year-old Derek Greer and 16-year-old Natalie Cano-Partida. The two victims went to Coronado High School.
The teenagers were abducted at gunpoint and shot along a road near Fountain.
KKTV reports a jury could not agree on six of the more than a dozen charges Garcia-Bravo faced in February. A partial mistrial was then declared.
Garcia-Bravo accepted a plea deal in exchange for a lighter sentence. He was one of 10 people linked to the murders, but was the only one to stand trial.
"We were hoping we would get fair justice for them. No amount of time is ever going to bring back Natalie or Derek. They're gone forever. Losing Natalie is so devastating, and of course it was over hearsay. We found out during the trial there was really no reason they did what they did. Thirty years isn't enough. There isn't an amount of time, but 30 years is definitely not enough. Two precious kids had so many dreams and goals ahead of them. They had no idea what was going to happen to them. I think about the terrifying moments they went through before they were taken. Natalie was young. She put on a smile but beneath that smile was a scared and sometimes insecure person. She was coming up, and I just know she's was probably terrified as she drove hit to her doom. Derek was Natalie's true friend." Natalie's mother said.
Garcia-Bravo will get credit for time already served.
In January of 2019, Diego Chacon was sentenced to 65 years in prison for two counts of second degree murder.
