A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to 34 years to life in prison in the shooting death of a high school student in 2017.
Jaiden Ciruzzi pleaded guilty in March to reckless second-degree murder in the death of Ian Jewell, 18, who was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest at a hardware store parking lot in Goffstown. He was a student at Manchester Memorial High School. Prosecutors said the shooting happened after the two met regarding a drug deal.
Ciruzzi was 16 at the time Jewell was killed and was initially charged in the juvenile system. When he turned 18, he was indicted by a grand jury on a first-degree murder charge. He initially said he acted in self-defense.
His lawyers asked the judge for leniency in imposing the sentence.
Ciruzzi has already spent five years in prison and could face a further sentence reduction if he attains specified behavioral and educational goals, the judge said. He was sentenced in Manchester on Thursday.