20 to life ordered in killing

Laura Ginoulias left the courtroom Thursday followed by 20 or so family and friends after seeing her son's killer cuffed and put behind bars.

"I'm happy," she said moments after weeping on the witness stand as she struggled to describe how the murder of her only child, 16-year-old JonMichael Ginoulias, has affected her life.

Two months ago, 12 jurors convicted Donald Schuster of second-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon for gunning down her son outside Schuster's Las Vegas home.

He also was found guilty of battery with a deadly weapon for shooting Nicholas Errichetto, Ginoulias' best friend.

District Judge Donald Mosley sentenced Schuster on Thursday to the maximum penalty, 20 years to life in prison.

"I don't believe Mr. Schuster planned or decided to kill anyone when he got up that morning," Mosley said. "This was a combination of poor judgment on account of a number of individuals."

But he said Schuster overreacted and the result was a catastrophe.

A felon from New Jersey, Schuster also was sentenced Thursday for possession of a firearm to concurrent time.

Schuster, who has been out of custody on bond since May 2006, showed no emotion as he was handcuffed.

The shooting started after Schuster and his brother got into a fight with a group of teenagers at the house next door on Windycliff Court, near Charleston and Rampart boulevards. Tension had been growing between the two households over late-night parties at the house where Bradley Franklin, then 17, lived.

On the morning of Jan. 22, 2006, Schuster and his brother, Mark Strycharz, discovered someone had punctured a tire on the car of Strycharz's girlfriend. Strycharz had called police the night before to break up a party next door.

When Franklin, Errichetto, then 17, and JonMichael Ginoulias pulled up after getting smoothies, the two groups started arguing and trading punches. The fight edged toward the front door of Schuster's house.

Strycharz, then 22, fought with the teens and fell through a backyard gate. Meanwhile, Schuster went inside to retrieve his 9 mm Glock semiautomatic handgun.

He emerged from his front door, which faces the gate, and started shooting, authorities said. He shot JonMichael Ginoulias in the shoulder. The teen stumbled into the front yard toward Franklin's house, collapsed on the grass and died.

"You took away the greatest love I had ever known," Laura Ginoulias told Schuster in court.

During the trial, she said Schuster showed no remorse for his actions. She called him a coward for shooting a teenager almost half his age.

Schuster, who did not speak during the sentencing at the request of his attorney, also shot Errichetto in the leg. Schuster was charged with firing a shot at Franklin, but the jury did not convict him on that charge.

Errichetto is attending college and was not present in court, his mother told the judge.

Schuster's lawyer, Michael Cristalli, argued that Schuster fired his gun to protect himself and his brother.

"I don't think responsibility lies solely on Mr. Schuster," Cristalli said.

He tried to argue that a new law passed by the Legislature this year and enacted in July giving judges discretion on sentencing enhancements should apply to Schuster.

He asked for the minimum sentence on the murder charge and one year for the deadly weapon enhancement.

The deadly weapon enhancement under the old law requires the judge to double the sentence, which Mosley did, noting the Supreme Court could decide to retroactively apply the law when Cristalli appeals the case.

Prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci argued that the law does not apply to crimes that occurred before enactment.