PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2009 killing of his teenage girlfriend, avoiding what would have been a second trial.
The Providence Journal reports that Victor Arciliares was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison with 19 to serve after entering his plea.
Prosecutors say the now 30-year-old Arciliares shot 18-year-old Dayvelliz Cotto, the mother of his child. He was convicted of second-degree murder in 2012.
The Providence man testified the shooting was an accident. He said he brought a gun to their apartment and it went off while they were looking at it.
He was granted a new trial based on a state Supreme Court ruling in a similar case saying jurors should have been told they could consider an involuntary manslaughter including criminal negligence charge.
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