A Denver man was sentenced to 13 1/2 years in prison Tuesday for reckless manslaughter in the slaying of his girlfriend and another incident in which he led police on a wild car chase.

Sarah Heine, 21, was killed by a shotgun blast to the head at close range Nov. 22, 2004.

Robert Sandoval-Candelaria, 23, said the shooting was an accident, that he didn't know the shotgun was loaded and that he only wanted to scare Heine.

He was charged with first-degree murder, but a jury convicted him of a lesser charge of reckless manslaughter.

"The people believe strongly this is a first-degree murder case," said prosecutor David Lamb, in arguing for the maximum sentence, which Denver District Judge Morris Ben Hoffman imposed.

Sandoval-Candelaria was sentenced to 12 years for manslaughter plus 18 months for vehicular eluding in a high-speed car chase.

Lamb said the jury took a long time in deliberations and reached what he viewed as a "compromise verdict."

Although defense attorneys presented evidence of alternate suspects during the trial, Sandoval-Candelaria's half-sister told police he confessed the killing to her, saying it was accidental.

The couple had a daughter who was only 2 months old when her mother was killed. The child is living with a foster family.

Heine and Sandoval-Candelaria had been together for several years, a relationship prosecutors said was characterized by domestic violence.

Lamb said Sandoval-Candelaria directed his violence against "the woman he was supposed to love most in the world - the mother of his child."

Sandoval-Candelaria, a gang member, engaged in a pattern of domestic violence that including slapping Heine in the face and threatening her with guns, Lamb said. "He used guns to intimidate her," Lamb said. "On the day she died, he raised a shotgun, placed it within two feet of her face and he ended her life."

lindsays@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5181