A man was sentenced to 57Β½ years in prison for a brutal 2014 New Yearβs Day hit-and-run double homicide.
Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard D. Nichols sentenced Michael Dwayne Leday, 30, on Monday, confirmed Stephanie Coronado, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Attorneyβs Office.
Leday was found guilty in September of second-degree murder and aggravated assault in connection with the deaths of Patrick Balbastro, 32, and Cindy Burnett, 46.
Balbastroβs 43-year-old girlfriend, who also was run over by Leday, remained hospitalized for months and underwent extended treatment and physical therapy.
The altercation that led to the deaths began just before 4 a.m. Jan. 1, 2014 when Leday and Burnett got into a fight while walking in the 2200 block of East Sunland Vista, near East 36th Street and South Campbell Avenue, Tucson police said.
Balbastro and his girlfriend were driving in the south-side neighborhood when they saw a man, later identified as Leday, assaulting Burnett.
Balbastro called 911 and told a dispatcher he was going to help the woman. When Balbastro got out of his car to help Burnett, Leday attacked Balbastro. At some point during the attack, Balbastroβs girlfriend got out of the car.
After the assault, Leday got into Balbastroβs car and βaggressively used the vehicle as a weapon to strike all three victims multiple times,β authorities said.
Leday fled the scene and abandoned the vehicle after hitting a tree near East Sunland Vista and South Campbell Avenue. Burnett died at the scene and Balbastro died at a hospital.
Leday was later arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Kansas City, Missouri. He left Tucson on a bus the day after the killings, authorities said.
