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Appeal
from the Superior Court in Maricopa County, No.
CR2016-127930-001 DT, The Honorable Danielle J. Viola, Judge.
AFFIRMED
Arizona Attorney Generals Office, Phoenix, By Michelle L.
Hogan, Counsel for Appellee
Maricopa County Public Defenders Office, Phoenix, By Kevin
D. Heade, Counsel for Appellant
Judge
Jon W. Thompson delivered the opinion of the Court, in which
Presiding Judge Michael J. Brown and Judge Kenton D. Jones
joined.
OPINION
THOMPSON,
Judge:
[¶1]
Larry Grant Gentry (defendant) appeals from his conviction
and sentence for one count of manslaughter. For the reasons
that follow, we affirm.
FACTUAL
AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY[1]
[¶2]
In December 2015, the victim, M.R., and defendants
step-daughter, Autumn, had a son together. The couple lived
with their son in the same apartment complex as defendant and
Autumns mother, Traci. Defendant and Traci shared their
apartment with various other family members.
[¶3]
On June 12, 2016, M.R. brought his son to defendant and
Tracis apartment. Shortly thereafter, Traci noticed the baby
had bruises and a possible bite mark on his body. Traci
confronted M.R. and Autumn about the injuries and they
started to argue. Frustrated, M.R. attempted to take his son
out of the apartment but Traci would not allow it.
[¶4]
Aware of the confrontation, defendant left the apartment for
the grocery store. Upon defendants return, he saw M.R. push
Autumn. Defendant went into his bedroom, retrieved a gun, and
told M.R. to leave. Defendant eventually discarded the gun
and the two men continued to argue. To avoid
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further escalation, M.R. and Autumn went back to their
apartment, leaving their son with Traci.
[¶5]
Within minutes, M.R. returned to defendants apartment,
walked inside, and asked, "are you going to shoot
me?" Defendant told M.R. to leave, but M.R. refused and
walked "slightly" toward defendant. Defendant
reached for the gun and Traci attempted to wrestle it from
his grasp. When defendant gained control of the gun, he
instructed a family member, who was standing near M.R., to
move away and shot M.R. a total of ten times in his legs,
arms, shoulders, back, and torso. M.R. died from the gunshot
wounds.
[¶6]
After shooting M.R., defendant walked over to his body, lit a
cigarette, and said, "he deserved it." When
officers arrived, defendant told them he shot M.R. Defendant
would later claim that M.R. reached for defendants gun, that
he feared M.R. would use the gun on him and his family, and
that he was in "protection mode." Defendant had no
visible injuries and none of the family members who were
present during the offense could corroborate his claim that
M.R. attempted to take his gun.
[¶7]
The state charged defendant with one count of manslaughter, a
class 2 dangerous felony. A jury found him guilty as charged
and found that two aggravating factors applied. The trial
court sentenced him to a slightly aggravated term of thirteen
years in prison. Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal.
We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 9, of the
Arizona Constitution and ...