WEST PALM BEACH, Fla — A West Palm Beach man, now 19, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter with a firearm in shooting of his girlfriend one year ago.
Circuit Judge Caroline Shepherd sentenced Alex Castanon, to the sentence Wednesday, two days after the one-year anniversary of the death of 18-year-old Dolores Felipe.
He told the judge he was remorseful and did not want to put Felipe's family through a jury trial, The Palm Beach Post reported. Castanon was credited with 368 days of time served in the jail.
Castanon initially was charged with second-degree murder.
Investigators said she was shot as she argued with Castanon about a a gun in their West Palm Beach home on 34th Street.
After the fatal shooting, Castanon, who was near the body, told police that he was on the couch with her when someone walked through the front door and shot Felipe in the head. Castanon told police he picked her up, walked her outside and placed her on the ground.
According to the affidavit, surveillance video taken from across the street showed that nobody walked through the front door for 18 minutes before Castanon walked outside with Felipe's body.
Then he changed his story, stating that the gun went off when Felipe grabbed it during an argument at their residence.
During a recorded interview with detectives, Castanon told them that he and Felipe were having sex on the couch in the living room, which is where he sleeps, "when he felt the gun" that he placed between the cushions.
According to the affidavit, Castanon said she "told him to not have any guns around her, so he pulled the gun out of the cushion to place it elsewhere and when he did, Dolores became upset and started grabbing for the gun."
Castanon told detectives that she grabbed the gun and as he pulled it away from her, "it went off."
