A 31-year-old Fremont County man was sentenced Thursday in Lander to between six and 12 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $9,000 in restitution for involuntarily, but recklessly beating his cousin to death last March.
Wearing an orange jumpsuit, thick-rimmed glasses and shackles, Nicholas Joren Blackburn sat silently in Fremont County District Court during his Thursday sentencing hearing while a petite woman wept loudly at the podium and asked for a harsher sentence than the one Blackburn’s plea agreement promised.
“I was robbed,” wailed Alvina Apodaca, the mother of 29-year-old Pete Ouray, who died of a subdural hematoma in March 2024 after a visit from Blackburn that ended in violence.
Ouray’s mother found him dead roughly two days after his death when she checked in on him.
Blackburn visited the home the evening of March 14, 2024. Ouray’s stepfather heard an altercation in Ouray’s room overnight, and Blackburn left the home the next morning.
Apodaca found her son dead March 17, when she grew concerned over his inactivity.
“I wasn’t given the right to at least hold his hand as he took his last breath,” Apodaca added.
She said she also faults the people who dropped Blackburn off, drunk, at the home she shared with Ouray and her husband. Blackburn is known to be violent when he’s drunk, she said.
“Who does that?!” Apodaca cried, her voice rising to an anguished cry.
Fremont County District Court Judge Jason Conder appeared to take the woman’s challenge to heart and asked Fremont County Attorney Micah Wyatt to indicate “why should I accept this plea agreement?”
The agreement had a back-out clause, meaning if Conder rejected it, Blackburn could revert back to an earlier phase in his case and strike a new agreement or go to trial.
The judge couldn’t simply discard the agreement and impose a tougher sentence.
Involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when there’s no agreement in place.
The prosecutor noted similar manslaughter cases in Wyoming and in Fremont County end in similar sentences. Among those, Wyatt referenced the Sheridan County case of Cody McCalla, which ended with a four-to-six-year sentence after McCalla killed a local hockey coach with a heavy punch during a fight over a parking space.
Grieves His Cousin
Fremont County Public Defender Valerie Schoneberger said Blackburn has taken responsibility for involuntary manslaughter; he pleaded guilty and confessed in court in March.
“Mr. Blackburn does grieve his cousin, Mr. Ouray, and is immensely regretful of his behavior,” said Schoneberger.
She noted that the manslaughter case was complicated by other “contributing factors” in Ouray’s death, which was from subdural hematomas. It was also complicated by the timeline and whether Ouray may have survived if someone had found him earlier, she indicated.
Blackburn struggles with intense alcohol addiction and general addictive behaviors, according to statements from both the prosecution and defense.
When given the chance to speak on his own behalf, Blackburn said he didn’t have anything to say.
Then Don’t Drink
Conder spoke as though exasperated, not with Blackburn’s case specifically, but with years of senseless tragedy fueled by alcohol.
“Unfortunately, alcohol is prevalent,” said Conder. “People drink it. They sing songs about how glorious it is — how fun. It’s a joke.”
Yet, his and courthouses across the country teem with “the great drunk excuse” for horrific tragedies, “day, after day, after day,” he said.
Blackburn stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 275 pounds, while Ouray stood 5-foot-6 and weighed about 160 pounds, the judge noted.
Their argument and confrontation ended with a “one-sided attack,” said Conder.
“So we have a drunken fight that’s not much of a fight,” Conder continued. “Mr. Ouray was outmatched physically.”
At this, a cry escaped Apodaca, who was then sitting in the gallery.
Conder said he would agree with the plea agreement. He sentenced Blackburn to between six and 12 years in prison, with credit for 213 days he’s served in jail on this case.
Schoneberger had told the judge he could apply 401 days’ credit instead, since Blackburn had spent another nearly 200 days on another matter before a warrant was issued in this case.
But Conder opted not to apply the more generous credit.
He imposed court costs and fees, plus $1,000 in public defender’s fees and $8,733.90 in restitution.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
