SALT LAKE CITY — A West Valley man has been sentenced to prison for shooting another driver at random and then leading police on a high-speed chase.
Joseph "Cyko" Granados, 35, was sentenced Dec. 28 to at least three years and up to life in prison for attempted murder, a first-degree felony.
Additional sentences — one to 15 years for possession of a firearm by a restricted person, as well as up to five years each for failing to stop for police and criminal mischief — were ordered to run consecutively.
A jury found Granados guilty of the shooting in October.
Prior to sentencing, however, Granados' attorneys successfully argued to have the convictions vacated for 11 charges alleging felony discharge of a firearm, one for each shot Granados fired. No sentence was given for those charges, which included one second-degree felony and 10 third-degree felonies.
Granados' attorneys argued that those offenses were all included under the attempted murder charge. Prosecutors countered that each shot was a distinct offense, noting that jurors had agreed when they found Granados guilty.
According to police, Granados was driving near 7900 South and Grizzly Way in West Jordan in June 2016 when he brandished a gun and began pursuing the 43-year-old man at random. Granados forced the driver off the road and into a parked vehicle, then fired several shots at him, striking him once in the neck before fleeing, police said.
The driver survived the shooting.
After police identified and located Granados hours later, police said he led officers on a high-speed chase and was arrested when he tried to run on foot.
Police at the time reported that Granados appeared to be under the influence of an uknown substance when he was arrested. The victim told police that, before the attack, Granados had been "swerving all over the road."