SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A man who carried out a fatal shooting in San Diego's East Village almost three years ago was sentenced Friday to 38 years to life in prison.
In April, a jury found Tyler Cosby, 26, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 37-year-old Vista resident Samuel Burkhalter.
On Dec. 1, 2020, Burkhalter was found shot at the entrance of a parking garage near 1400 G St.
Responding officers and fire personnel performed first aid on Burkhalter, but he died at the scene, said San Diego police Lt. Andra Brown.
Witnesses reported seeing a man in a dark hooded sweatshirt and a black hat running through the garage following the shooting, then fleeing the area to the west on Market Street, Brown said. Cosby was arrested two days later.
The 38-year sentence includes 25 years to life for the first-degree murder conviction, a 10-year gun enhancement and three years for a narcotics and sales charge. Cosby was also ordered to pay fines, fees and $10,000 in restitution, and may have to pay more pending the outcome of a future court hearing.
Pippa Cunningham, deputy district attorney, said the victim's family was satisfied with the sentence.
Members of the Burkhalter and Cosby families were in court for the sentencing.
Earlier in the hearing, Cosby's attorney, Jan Ronis, said the question was whether his client's life was salvageable.
Cosby suffered serious childhood trauma from an injury and then fell into drug use, but is a different person Friday and "one of the nicest young men you could know," Ronis said. "His life can be redeemed."
Superior Court Judge Joan P. Weber Friday rejected the 50-year minimum sentence requested by the District Attorney's Office.
Weber said Cosby had no prior criminal record, was just 23 at the time of the shooting, had experienced trauma after being hit by a truck as a child and later wrestled with severe drug use.
Before handing down the sentence, Weber described the hearing -- which included victim impact statements from Burkhalter's wife and other family members -- as emotional.
Weber said that as a judge, she has sat at her bench many times and seen the tragedy of drug abuse, with both the defendant and victim having dealt with fentanyl addiction.
"Without that, we would have not have a dead father of three, and a man spending the rest of his life behind bars," Weber said. "There are no winners today."
"This was an execution," Weber said of Cosby's actions, adding he shot Burkhalter twice before shooting him right between the eyes.
Burkhalter's wife, Jamie, told the court of her and daughters' anguish after Samuel's death.
Cosby is "wholly responsible or that night" that changed everyone's life forever, by shooting a man who thought he was helping a friend, Jamie Burkhalter said.
She noted how her late husband was a general contractor whose greatest joy was being a dad.
"He was kind, he was funny and he loved so hard," Jamie Burkhalter said.
Jamie Burkhalter said her daughters will never hear their father's voice again, and "their sentence is forever."
She also accused Cosby of changing his story about what happened, "because the truth would have required acceptance."
The mother also read a letter from one of her daughters to Cosby.
"Tyler, you disgust me beyond all comprehension," the girl wrote. "You left my family in shambles, and you deserve to rot in jail."
One of Burkhalter's sisters told the court that she hoped her brother would beat his addiction, but Cosby took that hope away. She added that her life has been filled with non-stop nightmares, and that she hoped Cosby's life will be the same.
"You took a very important person from the world," the woman told Cosby.
Another Burkhalter family member who was not in court asked for leniency in a letter to the court. The woman wrote that there was "no amount of retribution to Tyler Cosby that will bring peace to me or my family."
Addressing the court, Cosby said he apologized "to everyone who knew and loved Sam."
Cosby, who was crying, said that nothing he could do or say to make the Burkhalter family feel better, "and I feel terrible about that."
Cosby said he hoped that his sentence would help bring closure to the victim's family, and also apologized to his own family members who were in court.
Copyright 2023, City News Service, Inc.
