Judge layers years onto a life sentence

Judge David Wall decided Friday that the prospect of Geoffrey Grove ever getting out of prison was too "frightening."

So Wall sentenced Grove to life in prison without the possibility for parole and layered another life sentence and dozens of years in prison on top of that for the murder, kidnapping and robbery of Shpresa Hamzaj.

Wall explained that he had considered as a mitigating circumstance Grove's history of impulse control problems and anger issues.

"The suggestion that you can commit dangerous or violent acts beyond your control is as much a frightening issue for now and for the future as it is some mitigation," Wall said.

According to court records, Grove was angry with Hamzaj, a 27-year-old aspiring model, after she broke up with him and returned an engagement ring.

Grove, 27, and Nicholas Navarrette, 25, sought revenge for the breakup by robbing her of guns and her two vehicles.

Once at Hamzaj's house, Grove and Navarrette hog-tied her, choked her with a dog leash and then took her to the desert, where they shot and killed her.

During the sentencing hearing, special public defender David Schieck suggested that the murder was not premeditated. "This was anything but thought out. It was totally ... ridiculous," Schieck said.

He went on to say that both Grove and Navarrette suffer from impulse control issues.

"Neither (Grove or Navarrette) has the common sense to say this is not a good idea," Schieck said.

But prosecutor David Stanton believed otherwise. "I think the evidence strongly suggests that indeed when they went there that night the plan was not only the robbery, they knew they were not going to leave any witnesses. They never hiccuped about that. It was cold. It was methodical ... and incredibly brutal," Stanton said.

When asked by Wall to address the court, Grove said, "I regret what I did and what I've done to my family and to their family."

Grove and Navarrette have a long history together, having met as kids at St. Jude's Ranch for Children, a nonprofit housing facility for abused and neglected children. During his time there, Navarrette was one of seven victims of sexual abuse by a former St. Jude employee. There is no evidence Grove was abused.

Navarrette, is scheduled to stand trial for Hamzaj's murder in September. If convicted Navarrette could face the death penalty.

Contact Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.