Скачать или смотреть Former officer sentenced in Aurora teen's 2021 fatal shooting

A former Greenwood Village Police officer was sentenced Thursday after an Arapahoe County jury convicted him of manslaughter for his role in the 2021 fatal shooting of a teenager.

Adam Holen was sentenced to two years in prison, followed by three years of mandatory parole.

In February, the jury found Holen guilty of manslaughter, rather than the more serious charge of second-degree murder. He was found not guilty of felony menacing.

"The judge can impose probation. The judge can impose probation with a requirement of serving time in the county jail as a condition of probation, or the judge can send Adam Holen to prison for up to six years on a Class 4 felony," 9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson said before the sentencing.

Holen was convicted in the death of 17-year-old Peyton Blitstein, who was shot and killed on Nov. 24, 2021. The shooting was captured by a neighbor's Ring camera.

Police said Holen fatally shot the teen after an argument over careless driving in a neighborhood in Aurora.

Blitstein's father, Todd Blitstein, said he was disappointed with the sentence Judge Eric White handed down.

"It’s a sad and a pathetic decision. I thought Judge White would be a little bit smarter than this," Blitstein said. "The fact that you send the guy to prison for two years and still hasn’t accepted responsibility for his actions is sad and the court system has completely let Peyton down."

Holen spoke in court before his sentence was read Thursday. He said he was "deeply sorry" for the loss of life. He said he believed he had to act quickly to save his own life, but he recognized that "some of my actions led to this tragedy."

Holen admitted if he had never gotten out of his truck, Peyton would still be alive. Through a fit of tears, he expressed his remorse, saying, "I see his face in my mind every day."

Peyton Blitstein's friends and family did not buy his remorse.

"I believe he probably regrets it now, but I feel like only because he’s in all this trouble now," Terence Eugene said.

The young man said he was there the night of the shooting.

"To shoot someone more than five times is -- I just feel like it wasn’t a fair sentencing," he said. "We didn’t actually get the justice we should have gotten."

During the trial, the jury had to decide whether Holen shot the teen in self-defense or whether he was the aggressor.