Tortolano gets 30 years for murder

BOISE, Idaho (AP) _ Former Mountain Home resident Brent Tortolano has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his girlfriend in a Taco Bell parking lot.

Penny Moore, 20, also formerly of Mountain Home, was shot in the head while she was sitting in the passenger seat of a convertible on Oct. 11, 2002. She died four days later. Tortolano told police he had gone into the Boise restaurant and when he returned, he found her wounded.

Tortolano, 20, was convicted of second-degree murder in May. His defense attorneys argued throughout the trial that someone else had fired the weapon.

Only at the end of the trial did they raise the possibility that the shooting may have been an accident, which is what Tortolano recently told the doctor who performed a pre-sentence psychiatric evaluation.

Fourth District Judge Ronald Wilper said Friday that parts of Tortolano's latest version of the story were not credible.

"I'm going to send you to prison,'' Wilper said. "But I think you knew that going in.''

Tortolano would be eligible for parole after 20 years.

The sentencing focused mostly on Tortolano's past: his anger, marijuana and methamphetamine habits, multiple arrests for arson, possession of stolen property and drugs.

Deputy Ada County Prosecutor Julianne Meehan Meehan said Tortolano's anger could be seen in the short time he and Moore were together.

They had dated just 90 days or so, but moved in with each other. Friends said they were verbally abusive with each other, and pushed and shoved in rough-edged "play.''

"Penny is the one who had bruises on her,'' Meehan said.