Veteran gets 35 years for killing 2 in Columbia

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former soldier has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for killing two men in their yard in Richland County last year.

The State newspaper reported (http://bit.ly/uBsgDD ) that Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman sentenced 40-year-old Leslie Todd Parvin.

A jury deliberated more than two days before convicting Parvin last week.

Prosecutors said Parvin shot Edgar Lopez and Pablo Gutierrez-Guzman after Parvin paid Lopez $200 for sex and Lopez backed out of the arrangement. Prosecutors say after the shooting, Parvin shaved his head, destroyed his gun and fled to Louisiana where he had the family’s minivan destroyed.

Parvin said he shot the men in self-defense. His attorneys told Newman that Parvin has suffered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder since serving in Afghanistan in 2002. He was diagnosed in 2007.

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Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com