EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Justice finally came for family and friends of an El Paso County teen strangled to death by a man now convicted of reckless manslaughter. However, her family says it's not enough.
Inside an El Paso County courtroom Thursday, District Judge William Bain sentenced Joel Hollendorfer to 24 years in prison, including the time he's already served, for the killing of Kara Nichols in October 2012. She was 19 when she died.
After a two-week trial in June, an El Paso County jury found him guilty of manslaughter; however, he was acquitted on charges of 1st and 2nd-degree murder.
Judge Bain found that Hollendorfer was a "habitual criminal" during a court trial in July. Determining that allowed Hollendorfer to be sentenced at three times the maximum sentence for the manslaughter charge. The mandatory sentence for manslaughter is only six years.
Judge Bain, along with multiple detectives with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, and Nichols' friends and family expressed the vast amount of hurt and anguish that Hollendorfer's actions have caused them.
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Nichols' family and friends said they will be at every single parole hearing in Hollendorfer's future. They stated their opposition to him ever being offered early release on a sentence that Judge Bain stated was "not commiserate to the pain in the courtroom."
Police, judge, and family of Kara Nichols say her killer’s prison sentence is ‘not strict enough’
Police, judge, and family of Kara Nichols say her killer's prison sentence is 'not strict enough' | KRDO