Santee

A Santee man was sentenced to 13 years in state prison Wednesday for killing another man in a dispute over a 24-year-old car.

Al Ernest Anthonis, 28, who pleaded guilty last month to voluntary manslaughter, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge William Mudd.

Anthonis shot and killed John Reynolds, 27, also of Santee, on July 23 at Reynolds’ home on Olive Lane.

According to court testimony, Anthonis lent his 1966 Buick Electra to Reynolds, but, when it was returned, it had a mechanical problem and Anthonis couldn’t start it.

Anthonis’ attorney, Stacy Gulley, acknowledged that his client’s vehicle was “an old, beat-up car.”

The victim’s mother, Tommie Reynolds, who came from Idaho to attend the sentencing, started to read a statement in court but was overcome with tears. Her statement was read by a friend. In the statement, the mother told the defendant that her son had made arrangements to have a cousin look at Anthonis’ “junked car.”

She concluded by saying, “Shooting him in the back did not fix the car.”

The judge also fined Anthonis $2,000, which will be paid from his prison earnings, and $600 for probation violations on previous auto theft and grand theft convictions.