Iron County Record | 1964-04-09 | Page 1 | Richard Dean Receives Maximum Sentence on November, 1963 Lee Nez Shooting Charge

Richard Dean Receives Maximum Sentence On November 1963 Lee Nez Shooting Charge Richard Dean, owner and oper- ator of Dean's Cafe at Cioosroad Junction in Escalante Valley, was sentenced to one year in the county jail Monday by Fifth Dis- Itrict Judge C. Nelson Day. Dean was found guilty of involuntary in-voluntary manslaughter with a recommendation for leniency by a 12-man jury on March 7, fori the September 29, 1963, shooting of 20-year-old Lee Nez. i Dean, who had been free on SlO.OtX) bail was taken into cus-1 tody to begin serving his sentence. sen-tence. The one-year sentence was the maximum allowed for an involuntary invol-untary manslaughter charge. Judge Day acknowledged the jury recommendation for leniency lenien-cy but stated that a life had been taken and the full penalty for the crime as set by the jury was in order. Dean was charged with first degree murder in the shooting. Events leading up to the shooting shoot-ing on September 29, a Sunday, were detailed through an inquest conducted at Dean's Cafe, the day following the shooting, the preliminary pre-liminary hearing which bound the 'vse to the District Court, and the trial early In March. Several fights earlier In the day on the parking lot of the Cafe were involved, with the shooting taking place on the parking lot after Nez, In company com-pany with two companions returned re-turned to the cafe. Durir." the course of the izy numerous shots were fired before Nez was fatally wounded, it was indicated.