LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Two teenagers who killed a retired police chief in a deadly crime spree were sentenced after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
Jesus Ayala will serve 20 years to life in prison, and Jzamir Keys was ordered to serve 18 years to life.
The two pleaded guilty to intentionally running down the bicyclist with a stolen car. Retired California police chief Andreas Probst died in the August 2023 attack, which the teens recorded and posted video of on social media.
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"Obviously was a crime captured on video," said Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani. "One of the most callous and egregious acts I've seen in my career."
"The Probsts not only have to live with the fact of him being killed in this manner... They had to have been shown what their family member went through and that is a completely different level of pain... I am so offended by that conduct," said Judge Jacqueline Bluth. "There is no excuse for what you two have done and the damage and pain you have caused."
Before the sentence was read, two of Probst's children addressed the court.
"I can't help to think that maybe we wouldn't be in this situation if the defendants had one parent like my father," said son Michael Probst. "He had so many plans for the future, so much more life to live...all taken away not just from him, but from all of us.
"The moment I learned of his death, all I could do was scream and yell, it felt like my heart was just torn into pieces. Our family is forever changed and the emotional trauma will forever haunt us."
WATCH: Probst family believes social media culture played a role in the fatal hit-and-run crash
While the defendants declined to speak when asked by the judge, the attorney representing Ayala said what happened was reckless and stupid, and that the teens never intended to kill Probst or anybody else.
"At the time, they didn't understand the gravity of what they were doing and what would result, even though it seems obvious to everybody," the attorney said.
However, Probst's widow Crystal refuted that claim.
"They made a choice and that choice destroyed my family," she said. "Andy was stolen from me in an act so cruel, so deliberate that it not only shattered my heart, but the heart of everybody who loved him. They took away the future we spent decades building together. They left a silence that nothing can replace.
"Losing him did not just break my heart, it broke the foundation of my life.
"Let me be painfully clear, the individuals that carried out this monstrous act...should feel nothing but shame, shame for the lives they have shattered without hesitation...shame for allowing neglect and excuses to take the place of accountability, compassion and basic human decency."
The duo received credit for time served in custody ahead of sentencing, roughly two years and three months.