Plea nets 6-year sentence in 2018 homicide

PORTALES - Angel Loya was sentenced Wednesday morning to six years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the April 2018 shooting death of Dylan McKay in Portales.

"I'm truly sorry for what happened," Loya told McKay's loved ones in the crowded court hearing. "It was never my intention to take Dylan's life."

Loya, 23, faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted at trial on his original charge of second-degree murder. Attorneys said in Wednesday's plea conference that they agreed to the amended charge since a jury "by and large would have a wide variety of opinions as to what should happen," defense counsel Gary Mitchell told the court.

Mitchell said the case was an unusual one, "certainly not murder, and more likely than not, not self defense."

Deputy District Attorney Jake Boazman said Loya knew McKay "was upset and on his way to the residence," but made "no attempt to contact law enforcement ... but instead armed himself with the firearm" and stood behind the door of the residence where the incident took place.

The mother of McKay's daughter read an emotional statement to the court, emphasizing how her daughter has been impacted by McKay's loss.

"I hope that everyone involved in this remembers every day how it has affected a little girl for a lifetime," Bradi Carthel said of her daughter, Braylan.

"Everything that could go wrong went wrong that night, and it went wrong worse for Dylan, because he's not here today," Mitchell said.

Roosevelt County Judge Donna Mowrer took about 10 minutes in recess before returning with the sentence, giving Loya the state's recommendation for the upper limit of six years.

"There are no winners in this type of situation," Mowrer said. "There are only losers."