Print edition: 
WICHITA — For the third time, Silvia Martinez and Miguel Andrade Sr. faced a man convicted of killing their son on Father’s Day.
“He was 19. My son was only 13. He took a person’s life, and now asks for his life back,” Martinez said Friday at the sentencing of Eli Betancourt.
Betancourt, now 21, will have to serve nearly 26 years before he can face a parole board under a life sentence for the murder of Miguel Angel Andrade Martinez.
Miguel died after 10 gunshots blasted through the front door of his house around sunrise on June 20, 2010. Miguel had been sleeping on the coach at the house where he lived with his mother and sister, waiting for his father to pick him up that Sunday morning.
Instead, he didn’t get the door open before being shot to death by gunmen on the other side.
Betancourt became the third defendant to receive a life sentence from Sedgwick County District Judge Ben Burgess. Betancourt’s older brother, Alejandro Betancourt, and Eddie Laurel are both serving life sentences at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility.
A jury convicted Eli Betancourt in May after hearing evidence that he and Laurel, then 16, went to the wrong house.
According to testimony and statements the men gave to police:
Daniel Betancourt, Eli and Alejandro’s brother, had been in a fight a month earlier. The night before the shooting, they met Laurel at a party. Laurel, whom police identified as a gang member, chided the Betancourts to take vengeance on behalf of their brother. Laurel claimed to know where the man lived who started the fight with Daniel Betancourt. But it was actually the Martinez house.
Alejandro Betancourt drove Eli, Laurel and Greg Patton past the house. Patton testified Eli Betancourt and Laurel went to the door with guns. Patton testified at all three trials after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and is now serving probation.
“It’s been a year and a half since they killed my son, but to me it was like yesterday,” Andrade said. “I still do not understand it.”
Burgess said he didn’t understand it, either.
“I often refer to homicides as senseless killings,” Burgess said before imposing the sentence. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a homicide more senseless.”
Betancourt apologized to Andrade, Martinez and their family.
“I could say I’m sorry a thousand times. I could do 50 years in prison. It wouldn’t bring Miguel back,” he said. “I have changed, even if you don’t believe it. I hope you find peace through Jesus Christ.”
Martinez told the judge she wasn’t sure whether the apology was sincere. After all, Daniel Betancourt remains in the Sedgwick County Jail awaiting trial on a charge of threatening Martinez.
Jurors also convicted Eli Betancourt of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling, drawing a sentence of 11 months, which Burgess ordered to run consecutively to the murder sentence.
Although murder carries a life sentence, the law allows for inmates to ask for parole after 25 years. The weapons sentence will be added to Betancourt’s parole eligibility.
“I don’t think it will make much difference,” the judge said. “After 25 years, he’ll probably be able to do that extra year standing on his head.”
Life sentences carry no guarantee of parole.
