Sentencing for man who pleaded guilty in roommate’s death
Sentencing is scheduled for an Arizona man who had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2016 shooting death of his roommate.
Zachary Dale Penton faces seven to 21 years in prison when he’s sentenced Friday in the killing of 41-year-old Danny Garofalo.
Two days before the shooting, Penton tweeted that he needed to move out of the home before he killed his roommates.
The 23-year-old says he was acting in self-defense after Garofalo tackled him, took away his phone and threatened to kill him.
Prosecutors say Garofalo was unarmed and that Penton could have run away or called for help rather than shoot his roommate.
Penton’s attorney maintains his client’s social media posts were only hyperbolic expressions of frustration and didn’t reflect an intention to harm Garofalo.
