A Carpinteria man was sentenced Tuesday in Santa Barbara County Superior Court to 27 years in state prison after a jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter and other crimes stemming from an assault in 2019.
Scott Robert Fleming, 32, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and battery causing serious bodily injury, as well as a special allegation for personally inflicting great bodily injury in the killing of Eric Romero.
Romero, 32, of Carpinteria suffered critical injuries in the attack in the early morning hours on July 20, 2019, and died after being removed from life support at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
After various altercations between a group of friends, the defendant turned on Romero, who was trying to de-escalate the situation.
The defendant assaulted Romero, rendering him unconscious and causing him to fall back and hit his head on the concrete.
The defendant fled the scene shortly after the assault and was apprehended by sheriff’s detectives several days later in Ventura.
The District Attorney’s Office sought the maximum sentence because of a number of aggravating factors, including the defendant’s extensive criminal history involving assaultive conduct and his prior strike conviction.
“Justice was served in this case as a direct result of a thorough investigation by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and a detailed and rigorous prosecution team lead by Senior Deputy District Attorney Kevin Weichbrod,” District Attorney Joyce Dudley said.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.