BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A man from El Salvador who twice re-entered the U.S. after getting deported has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend.
Douglas Rivas, 35, was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the September 2016 shooting of Cristobal Hernandez in a Bridgeport restaurant, the Connecticut Post reported.
Rivas’ trial in October on a murder charge ended with a hung jury. Rivas then agreed to plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter and gun charges.
After the mistrial several witnesses were deported and could not be brought back to court to testify for a second trial, prosecutor Joseph Harry said
“Based on the circumstances, I felt this was a fair disposition,” he said.
Rivas was deported in 2007 and again in 2010.
According to testimony during the trial, Rivas threatened to kill Hernandez after coming back into Connecticut for the second time and finding that Hernandez was now dating his girlfriend.
Rivas attacked Hernandez when he came out of the bathroom at the El Paraiso Restaurant and shot him once in the chest, authorities said.
Rivas fled and was arrested eight months later in Florida.
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