A Nebraska teen was ordered to serve 70 to 80 years behind bars for killing a toddler, threatening the victim’s mom, and shooting a man in 2020.
A jury convicted Jake Gonzalez, 19, of child abuse resulting in death, making terroristic threats, and attempted murder.
Judge Vicky Johnson said that she had long considered sentencing Gonzalez to life in prison but had to lessen the punishment given his young age.
Prosecutors had told the court that Gonzalez left a path of death and destruction “in his 19 short years on this Earth.”
Gonzalez was 18 when he beat Hollen Siedschlag to death while his mom was at a store on Feb. 26, 2021. He then threatened the woman to remain silent or he would kill her daughter.
When he killed the 2-year-old boy, Gonzalez was out on bond after shooting a man four times. Prosecutors concluded that Gonzalez “approaches every problem with the same solution and that is violence.”
But Gonzalez’s lawyer, Kelly Breen, asked that he be given the chance of parole one day, citing his difficult childhood, living in a car with his family as they traveled from Texas to Nebraska.
“Even a person who has committed serious crimes can rehabilitate themselves, can reform themselves, and return to society as productive citizens,” Breen said.
