A 19-year-old man who killed a Tucson teenager as he walked home from Park Place mall was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison.
Anthony Richard Encinas was convicted in February of first-degree murder, attempted robbery and attempted aggravated robbery in the death of Derreck Burruss, whom Encinas shot and killed just before midnight on Jan. 4, 2008, near East 29th Street and North Wilmot Road
Encinas must serve at least 29.5 years before he is eligible for parole. Pima County Superior Court Judge Howard Fell enhanced the normal 25-year parole threshold because of the robbery charges, which stemmed from when Encinas tried to rob a friend of Burruss' a few minutes before the murder.
Burruss, 16, and friends Shay Henderson and Dominic Moore were walking south on Wilmot near 29th when they were approached by Encinas and his cousin, Raymond Godoy, 17.
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Moore testified at trial that Encinas, who is a member of an East Side gang known as Brown Pride, asked the group where they were from, then pulled out a .357-caliber Magnum and shot Burruss in the chest from close range.
Godoy, who had also been charged with first-degree murder, pleaded guilty in March to hindering prosecution and was given five years of intensive probation.
