Susan Reesor warned her son three years ago to stay away from Straight Edgers.
He didn't listen.Wednesday morning Reesor's son, 18-year-old Colin, gave his last hugs to his family, then stood red-faced and teary-eyed as 3rd District Judge William Barrett told him he'd be spending five years to life in prison for stabbing 15-year-old Bernardo Repreza during a fight on Halloween 1998 involving 20 to 30 Straight Edgers.
Colin Reesor's sentence came shortly after Barrett also gave 19-year-old Andrew Moench, another Straight Edger, a term of six to 15 years in prison for beating Repreza in the head with a bat before Colin Reesor stabbed Repreza.
Both were the maximum sentences allowed under Utah law.
Another accomplice to the beating, Sean Parley Darger, will go on trial Dec. 21 on charges of murder, a first-degree felony. Prosecutors say Darger, 18, beat Repreza with a spring-loaded baton.
During the more than two hour sentencing Wednesday morning, Barrett had the unenviable job of listening to emotional pleas for leniency from Colin Reesor, Moench and their defense attorneys, as well as tearful demands for justice from Repreza's grief-stricken family.
"This is one of those unfortunate tragedies that if we could all take it back we would in a heartbeat, but we can't," Barrett said before sentencing Moench.
After giving Moench his sentence Barrett was lost for words.
"I don't know what else to say," he sighed. "This really hurts my heart, I don't like doing it."
Moench was escorted to the court's holding cell with tears streaming down his face, and his family and friends left the courtroom in tears as well.
It was a similar scene after Colin Reesor learned his fate.
As Susan Reesor left the courtroom, she stopped in front of the mob of reporters and cameras.
"I'd like to make a statement," she said.
After emphasizing how sorry her son was for what had happened, and how out of character his actions were, she applauded the Repreza family for keeping Bernardo in the public eye, saying that doing so will hopefully make more kids aware of the dangers of violence and gangs.
She also said she and her husband had a long talk with their son three years ago.
"We encouraged him to abandon that (Straight Edge) philosophy," Susan Reesor said. "We felt that being LDS held the same values."
Colin Reesor's defense attorney, Bradley Rich, claimed Reesor only associated with some Straight Edgers and wasn't heavily involved in the movement, which consists of mostly white, middle-class teens who profess to shun drugs, alcohol and premarital sex.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Parker presented evidence to the contrary.
In an interview with a Salt Lake City police officer three years ago, Parker said Colin Reesor bragged about being a Straight Edger.
"The defendant is a member of the Straight Edge gang and it concerns me here that he claims that he is only an associate," Parker said.
One to two months before beating Repreza, Moench appeared on the ABC news program "20/20" and during the interview told a reporter, "You disrespect someone about being a Straight Edger, about being whatever. I mean, if someone disrespects someone about their religion, I mean, that's being disrespectful to you, fight them," he said. "They die, that's what they deserve."
"It reflects an attitude that is almost in exactness what he did just a few weeks later," said Deputy District Attorney Paul Parker.
Even after Colin Reesor turned to the Repreza family and apologized for the slaying, Repreza's 20-year-old brother, Luis, said he didn't feel it was sincere.
"I would apologize too if I knew I was facing a long time in prison," Luis Repreza said. "He's a big boy. He needs to pay the consequences."
Rich said Colin Reesor went to his LDS bishop after the slaying, told his parents what had happened and even broke down into sobs several times in his office.
"He made an unfortunate choice of the goals he had and the friends he had," Rich said. "He expressed considerable grief from that night on."