Teen sentenced to 36 years for imitating Mortal Kombat game

WELD COUNTY - A teenager who beat a 7-year-old girl to death while imitating the video game Mortal Kombat was sentenced to 36 years in prison and 5 years probation on Friday.

"I do agree to get what I get," Roberts said to Judge Marcelo Kopcow in Weld County District Court. "I'm not a monster, your honor. I'm truly sorry (for) what happened."

Last month the 18-year-old Roberts plead guilty to child abuse resulting in death for the December 2007 death of Zoe Garcia. Roberts was 17 at the time.

"Please consider this - she will never have a life again," Dana Trujillo, Zoe Garcia's mother, said during Roberts' sentencing.

"She has an older sister that will never again see her sister," said Garcia's aunt, Heather Juarez.

"My granddaughter was my princess and she meant everything to me and I don't believe this should have happened," said Veronica Lara.

Since Roberts was treated as an adult in the case, he had faced 16 to 48 years in prison.

Garcia's half-sister, 17-year-old Heather Trujillo, previously pleaded guilty to negligently causing death through child abuse for her role in Garcia's death.

She was sentenced in July to an 18-year suspended prison sentence. As part of a plea deal, Trujillo is spending six years in a youth offender program.