TOOELE — A Texas man who stabbed a Stansbury Park High school student to death in a fight has been sentenced to up to 35 years in prison.
Larry Beach, who turns 21 later this month, pleaded guilty in January to manslaughter and obstructing justice, both second-degree felonies, in the stabbing death of 17-year-old Jesse Horowitz.
He was ordered Tuesday to serve two to 20 years in the Utah State Prison for manslaughter, as well as one to 15 years for obstructing justice. The two sentences will be served consecutively. The manslaughter sentence was enhanced because a dangerous weapon was used in the crime.
Horowitz was killed April 26, 2014, when two groups gathered outside a Stansbury Park elementary school for a fight in the middle of the night.
Horowitz and Beach had arrived with different groups to watch two others fight. But after the first fight was over, prosecutors say Beach began yelling at people in the crowd, and he and Horowitz ended up in their own fight.
"According to witnesses, the victim was getting the better of Larry and was pulled off," charging documents state.
But Beach wasn't done and ran back after Horowitz, put him in a choke-hold from behind with one hand and then stabbed him seven to nine times using the other, police said.
Beach's cousin, Roy Coffey, 19, of Stansbury Park, was charged with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, in Horowitz's death. He has not entered a plea in the case.
Coffey and Horowitz were acquaintances who went to high school together. Beach had been in Utah for only a week, and no one at the fight except his cousin knew him, according to investigators.
Horowitz was a high school senior at the time of his death. He was a month away from graduation and hoped to play football at Dixie State University that fall.
Email: mromero@deseretnews.com, Twitter: McKenzieRomero