MARIANNA – On Tuesday, the man convicted of killing Blake Allen Cain and shooting at a dozen others in a hail of gunfire two years ago was sentenced to life in prison, plus 80 years, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.
Circuit Court Judge Ana Maria Garcia granted prosecutor Shalla Jefcoat’s request to sentence Steven Mantecon, 23, to Life in prison with a minimum-mandatory 25 years under Florida’s 10-20-Life law. Garcia then sentenced the defendant to 15 years each on two counts of Shooting into an Occupied Vehicle, and ordered both of those to be served consecutive to each other and the first sentence.
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The victim’s grandfather, right, standing beside Prosecutor Shalla Jefcoat, addresses the judge during sentencing.Garcia followed by adding 5 years in prison for each of the 10 Aggravated Assault with a Firearm charges, and ordered that each one of them be served consecutive to the others. That means each sentence will be served individually, one after the other.
At a three-day trial in February, Jefcoat and co-prosecutor Lawrence Gill proved that the defendant and Cain had agreed to a fight the night of the shooting to settle a dispute over a ring Cain had given his former girlfriend – the defendant’s sister.
Evidence showed the defendant drove to a park where Cain and others were gathered, argued with the victim, and without getting out of his truck opened fire from about 10 yards away with a semi-automatic AK47-style rifle.
Three shots hit the victim, killing him almost instantly. Other bullets hit vehicles driven by Cain’s friends. Every bullet fired hit either the victim or a vehicle.
Cain’s grandfather spoke at Tuesday’s sentencing, telling Judge Garcia that the family’s loss is unimaginable.
“He took a lot away from me, but he took a lot away from a lot of other people too,” he said. “It was a $40 ring I gave to him … this was all over a stupid ring. But you have no regard for life if you do what (the defendant) did.
“I just thank god Blake was the only one killed,” he added, “even though I lost my grandson. And you don’t have any idea how bad that feels. They say it gets easier over time, but that’s a lie. It doesn’t get easier, it gets worse.”
In asking for the maximum sentence, Jefcoat told Judge Garcia that many lives were changed forever that day and that was evident in the surviving victims’ testimony during trial.
“Mistakes were made that day,” Jefcoat said. “But Mr. Mantecon made choices that ended in his taking a life.”
Basford again thanked the Jackson County Sheriff’s office and its deputies and investigators for the tremendous amount of work both the night of the shooting and in the following weeks, as well as the Florida Highway Patrol, which helped serve a search warrant on the home where the murder weapon was recovered.
For additional information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454