WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A South Florida man who fled as jurors were deliberating on his third-degree murder case earlier this year has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The Palm Beach County judge sentenced 33-year-old Niklas Prokopishen on Thursday. A jury found him guilty in April, but he wasn't in court to hear his verdict.
The Palm Beach Post reports that Prokopishen had been in court but was free on $10,000 bail. U.S. marshals captured him a week later in New York.
Authorities say Prokopishen fatally shot 24-year-old Francisco Roman in January 2010 at an apartment Roman shared with his girlfriend. Prokopishen went to the apartment with a gun after the girlfriend called him about an argument she had with Roman.
Defense attorneys claimed Prokopishen found the gun in the apartment and acted in self-defense.
