Emotions ran high in Delta District Court on Wednesday, as Luke Shelton was sentenced to nearly six decades in prison for taking John David “Dave” Vieira from his family in a “truly evil act.”

Shelton was 20 on Jan. 4 2024, when he shot Vieira multiple times while working on Vieira’s Hotchkiss-area property, then buried him even as deputies who were alerted by a witness raced to the scene. Once there, the deputies frantically dug Vieira out of the makeshift grave and attempted unsuccessfully to revive him.

Shelton was ultimately charged with first-degree murder. On Wednesday, he proceeded immediately to sentencing after pleading guilty to second-degree murder as a crime of violence and class-2 felony, and to tampering with human remains as a class-3 felony.

Shelton committed “cold-blood

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