Austin Altomare found guilty of murdering girlfriend Cyarah Vince, gets 20-plus years in prison (UPDATED)

ELYRIA — Following a weeklong trial, a Lorain County jury on Wednesday found Austin Altomare guilty on all charges in the March 2020 murder of his girlfriend, Cyarah Vince. Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery immediately proceeded with sentencing, and ordered Altomare, 25, to serve 20½ years in prison before he is eligible for parole. The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for less than eight hours over two days before reaching its verdicts: Guilty on three counts of murder, one count of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of felonious assault, one count of having weapons under disability and one count of possession of drugs, all felonies. "I'm sorry," Altomare told the court prior to sentencing. "I didn't want or mean for any of that s--- to happen. I'm truly sorry and always will be." Defense attorney Anthony Nici, who called it a "very difficult case for my client," for Vince's family and "for everyone," asked Rothgery to impose the minimum sentence on his client. Altomare has "always had a great deal of remorse and expressed that" during the trial, Nici said. Cyarah Vince's mother, Tamara Vince, disagreed. She said Altomare showed "no remorse" for killing her daughter. In a victim impact statement she read in court, Tamara Vince said her daughter trusted Altomare. The couple had dated since 2017. Altomare "betrayed that trust," Tamara Vince said, killing her only child and "best friend." An only child and childhood cancer survivor with "an infectious laugh" who was known to friends and family as "Cece," she spoke to her mother every day over the phone, Tamara Vince said. Cyarah made her mother "a better person," Tamara Vince said, encouraging her to go back to college and sharing her "bucket list" and future travel plans. Tamara Vince said when she was pregnant with Cyarah, "I knew she was a girl, she was beautiful and she would be my only child." "That was enough. Now it's gone," she said. "How dare he take my only child from me," Tamara Vince said, glaring at Altomare several times as she gave her statement to the court. "I hope he never has a chance to celebrate a birthday outside jail walls." Altomare's "claims of remorse now are empty," Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Chris Pierre said in court, telling the judge that Altomare consistently claimed not to remember what happened the night of the murder, denied doing anything wrong or blamed his friend Jacob Bosko for the killing. Altomare was accused of shooting Vince, 23, once in the head inside the couple's apartment on East 29th Street in Lorain on March 26, 2020. He almost immediately admitted to the crime to responding Lorain police officers and then at least 16 more times to detectives during an interview. The fatal shooting followed a night of drug use by Altomare, Vince and Bosko. The trio took LSD, MDMA and used marijuana, according to testimony in court. Bosko claimed that after each of the three took five to seven "hits" of LSD, Altomare became paranoid and began walking around the apartment carrying his .40-caliber Glock handgun. Altomare fired several shots inside the apartment, hit Bosko with a chair, threatened him with a knife and chased him out of the apartment, Bosko testified. Vince still was alive when he fled the apartment, he said. Altomare and his attorney claimed they didn't know who shot Vince. Nici tried to convince the jury that Bosko could be the culprit, since he brought a 9 mm Springfield handgun with him that night. Lorain police later found that gun holstered inside Bosko's backpack. Only .40-caliber shell casings were found at the scene, Lorain police testified, and Bosko denied handling any guns besides his own that night. The only identifiable DNA found on Altomare's gun was his own. Nici criticized the Lorain Police Department's handling of the case: Detectives missed evidence or failed to collect evidence that was later found at the crime scene or that could have been beneficial to his client, he said. Pierre and fellow Assistant Prosecutor Daniellela Bearden argued that Altomare confessed to the killing multiple times and said he had a selective memory: When Altomare testified, he remembered details that benefited his defense and didn't remember details that harmed his defense. Pierre also offered that in a recorded call he was on from Lorain County Jail, Altomare said he wanted to "rub this in their f------ faces," in reference to the Vince family. The sentence gives Altomare a chance for parole after serving 20½ years — minus the last 629 days he has spent being held on $1 million bond in Lorain County Jail, for which he must be granted credit under Ohio law. Altomare told Rothgery he plans to appeal his conviction but could not afford an attorney. Rothgery appointed attorney Giovanna Bremke to handle Altomare's appeal. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him @daveobrienCT on Twitter.