RAPID CITY, S.D. — A man who helped shoot a man 15 times was sentenced to two life sentences for federal first-degree premeditated murder and other capital felonies.
Francisco Villanueva, age 43, previously convicted of murder in Colorado in the mid-1990s, was sentenced by Judge Jeffrey Viken in U.S. District Court to two consecutive life sentences in federal prison and ordered to pay a $500 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Villanueva was indicted by a federal grand jury on November 22, 2017, and was convicted of the charges by a federal jury following a two-week-long trial in September 2021.
The conviction stems from the October 16, 2016, shooting death of Vincent Von Brewer III in front of the SuAnne Big Crow Center in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Villanueva, along with Adan Corona, shot Brewer 15 times with an assault rifle and a 9mm handgun as Brewer attempted to flee from the defendants.
