More than three years after 20-year-old Tyson Eduardo Claros was shot dead by a man who suspected him of molesting his young daughter, Claros’s grieving family members faced the killer and his accomplices to say their lives have been ruined.

“There is no salvation for the people involved in this murder,” Claros’s stepfather Michael Dennison said this morning during the sentencing of Brandon James Mitchell, Tamara Nicole Thomson and Hector Godoy-Standley. “There is evil in their hearts that won’t go away.”

Brandon Mitchell, Tamara Thomson and Hector Godoy-Standley

Dennison said the criminal justice system failed, with the defendants receiving far more lenient treatment than they deserved. Mitchell, the shooter, was sentenced to 27 years in state prison. Thomson, who arranged the meeting that ended with Claros dead, received 14 years. And Godoy-Standley, who drove the car used during the carjacking and killing, will serve four years.

“Here we are,” Dennison said, “celebrating a victory for the defense attorneys.”

Claros’s stepmother Cami Claros, married to his father Eddie Claros, said the worst moment of her life was telling her other children their brother “had been shot five times by five terrible humans and was dead.”

“We watched our babies literally crumble to the floor,” Cami Claros said. The family couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, could barely function.

She first singled out Thomson, who during court hearings “sits with a smirk on her face, smiling at people.”

“Tamara deserves more (than 14 years),” she said, for setting up the carjacking and then pulling a loaded gun to threaten Claros and the woman driving the car Claros was riding in.

As for Mitchell, “Brandon is a cold-blooded killer. He deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life.”

Family members said they believed if the cases had gone to trial instead of resolving with plea bargains, they may have received justice.

 “We have our son in a box in the hallway,” Cami Claros said, “and we walk by it every day.”

Although she described the defendants as cold, heartless and remorseless, Cami Claros said to them what she knows Tyson would say if he could.

“I forgive you Tamara. I forgive you Hector. I forgive you Brandon. Because that is who I am.”

Cristina Dennison, Tyson’s mother, described her son as “everyone’s friend.”

“He never met a person he didn’t like,” she said … “ he was enjoying life with his girlfriend and they were talking about getting married and starting a family.”

It haunts her, Cristina said, that she couldn’t protect her child.

“Due to the violent circumstances of his murder, I was unable to be by his side when he needed me most.”

On Dec. 12, 2016, Thomson called her friend Tyson Claros and said she needed a ride from Eureka to McKinleyville. Claros was in a car with his friend “Jane Doe,” who agreed to give Thomson a ride. They took State Highway 255, and near Manila, Thomson pulled a handgun and ordered them to pull over. Immediately, another car pulled up and four others jumped out.

Cesar Octavio Valenzuela, Thomson’s boyfriend, was holding a gun as he ordered Jane Doe to “get the fuck out of the car.” Mitchell went around to the passenger door and when Claros got out of the car, Mitchell shot him five times.

Then Thomson and Valenzuela took off in Doe’s car, while Mitchell, Godoy-Standley and Catherine Fode fled in Godoy-Standley’s vehicle.

Fode was Godoy-Standley’s girlfriend and the mother of Mitchell’s 3-year-old daughter. She pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter more than two years ago and agreed to testify against the others. Fode has not yet been sentenced, and Valenzuela is scheduled for trial. Both remain in jail.

Although Fode and Mitchell suspected Claros of molesting their little girl, no charges were filed. When the child was interviewed, she reported no abuse.

Judge Christopher Wilson, commenting after listening to the family’s statements, said the two words that came to his mind were “shattered lives.”

But he said all attorneys in the case had “worked diligently,” and the outcome was largely based on new California statutes.

 “I think a lot of this result (the plea agreements) is based on changes in the law,” Wilson said.

After the five were arrested, California enacted changes to the so-called “felony murder rule,” making it much more difficult to convict accomplices of murder when they didn’t actually commit the killing.

Also, the judge pointed out, “none of the young people in front of me are over 25. Their adolescent decisions resulted in the loss of a life.”

Thomson and Fode were 18 when Claros was killed. The men were slightly older.

After the sentencing, Mitchell’s elderly grandmother said she also grieves for Claros’s family.

“Brandon’s family has been praying for them ever since this happened,” Lynn Fisk said, “and we hope they find peace. And our continued prayers are with them.”

Thomson’s grandmother, Meryle Ann Crowell, said her granddaughter does feel remorse for her role in the killing.

“Tamara’s very remorseful,” Crowell said. “She and I have cried together over this whole situation.”

During the sentencing, Thomson read a poem by Tehera Mafi to Claros’s family. It is quoted here in part:

On the bleakest days you have to keep your eyes onward and upward.
and on the saddest days you have to leave them open to let them cry
to then let them dry
to give them a chance to wash out the pain
in order to see fresh and clear once again.

Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Schaffer is the prosecutor in the case. Mitchell was represented by Andrea Sullivan, Thomson by David Nims and Godoy-Standley by Russ Clanton.

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