SAN ANTONIO – UPDATE: Lars Itzo was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $10,000 in Debra Kelly's death.
ORIGINAL STORY: Among the witnesses prosecutors called to testify during the punishment phase of Lars Itzo’s trial was the mother of his wife, Debra Kelly. Itzo was found guilty of manslaughter in his wife’s death.
Itzo fired one shot from a sawed-off shotgun at his wife, which hit her in the chest, on the night of Oct. 10, 2015. He said it had been dark and he had thought she was a burglar.
When asked by prosecutors what she felt was an appropriate punishment for Itzo, Anne Kelly, the victim’s mother said, “I personally would like to take a gun and shoot him.”
Hurt and angry, she looked directly at Itzo from the witness stand and said, “You put a hole in her chest, and it changed my life forever.”
Debra Kelly’s father, Jim Kelly, described his daughter as “a spirited personality full of life.”
“I think she was one of those people who could tell you to go to hell, and you’d joyfully enjoy the trip,” he said about his daughter.
Itzo’s sister asked the jury for probation.
“I just don’t think that it’ll make anybody feel better,” Kristina Konoff said. “I mean, seriously, do you want your friend – if he hurt you – to go to jail if it was an accident?”
Since the night of the shooting, Itzo has maintained that the shooting was an accident.