Sarbaum sentenced to prison, offers somber apology for killing friend
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IDAHO FALLS — After more than a year since the shooting death of Tyson Tew, Justin Sarbaum’s sentencing came to a tearful conclusion Thursday morning.
Sarbaum was sentenced to 20 years in prison with two years fixed and 18 years indeterminate for the January 2017 crime. He was originally charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter as part of a plea agreement.
During his sentencing, Tew’s mother, fiance and sister addressed the court.
“I want Justin to know that he took a piece of us,” Tew’s sister said through tears. “He took our brother, the son from my parents and the father to my nieces and nephew. You will live with the despicable cowardly decision that you made. And you wake up in your cell every morning staring at your empty, concrete walls. And you will think every day how you devastated our family.”
Sarbaum’s defense called one of Sarbaum’s former military commanders as a character witness. Sarbaum served in the United States Military for 11 years.
“He was a trusted soldier at levels, not just with me, levels that seeped into his other tours in Iraq and the other soldiers around him,” he said.
Bonneville County Prosecutor John Dewey argued that there may have been an altercation between Sarbaum and Tew but Sarbaum shot Tew while he was attempting to retreat. He said that Sarbaum shot Tew two times in the back.
Sarbaum’s defense countered that Sarbaum was trained to take at least three shots when threatened and that only one shot was in Tew’s back. One shot went through Tew’s hand and the other through his side.
“I will forever and always wish that that day did not happen,” Sarbaum said. “So, again to the Tew family — especially to the Tew family — I am so very sorry to all of you. Friends and family — all of you. I am so terribly sorry that he is not here.”
In delivering the sentence, District Judge Joel Tingey said he has read through numerous letters on Sarbaum’s behalf from soldiers who served with him and others that know him.
“‘Tragedy’ is an inadequate word when you talk about this event,” Tingey said. “There’s nothing I can do to repair the devastation. We’ve asked a lot of people to deal with that, including innocent kids. That’s a difficult concept for a hard-nosed judge to deal with.”
Tingey appeared to tear-up when speaking about the children affected by the situation.
“I don’t think we — most of us — will fully understand what happened, how we got here, what were the circumstances by which the decision was made, ‘I need to pull the trigger,'” Tingey said. “But I am left with one fact, and that is that Tyson Tew is dead and he shouldn’t be.”
As Sarbaum was escorted out of the room, exclamations of “duty first” were heard from those there to support him. He responded in kind with a shout of “Duty first!”