FARMINGTON — A man convicted in the fatal shooting of a Layton man over a bag of marijuana is headed to prison for 17 years to life.

A jury on April 29 found Michael Jameel Hines, 31, guilty of first-degree murder in the March 12, 2020, death of Kannon Beesley, 18, who was shot in the chest and arm. During the trial, Hines and another man who was there blamed each other for the shooting.

Second District Judge David J. Williams on Monday sentenced Hines to 15 years to life in prison on the murder charge, plus a one-year weapon enhancement. He sentenced Hines to up to five years for use of a firearm by a restricted person, that term to run concurrently with the murder charge. But the judge sentenced Hines to serve a consecutive sentence of one to 15 years for obstruction of justice.

Deputy Davis County Attorney Ben Willoughby said Tuesday he argued during the sentencing that running the terms consecutively was warranted because Hines told “six different stories about what happened that night” and “he was trying to pin the murder on some innocent person.”

“After he shot Kannon in his own home, Kannon’s mother and father were beginning the worst night of their life,” Willoughby said. “The defendant then left and went to a party, danced and ate pizza, played beer pong, laughed and had a good time.”

The other man present during the shooting, who was not charged, testified that he and Hines went to buy marijuana from Beesley. Hines grabbed a 1-pound bag of marijuana Beesley was holding and they struggled over it, Hines then firing a handgun. The bag broke open during the tussle, spilling marijuana through the room. The drugs were worth a few hundred dollars.

“What he did was so harmful and was over so little,” Willoughby said.

Beesley’s parents spoke at the sentencing hearing. “We all got teary-eyed hearing them say that every day they remember Kannon is not here,” Willoughby said.

The prosecutor said Beesley’s parents told Hines “how badly they were hurt, but they were both on the path to forgiveness. They said they know they have to forgive and they are working as hard as they can.”

Under Utah law, the state Board of Pardons and Parole will determine how long Hines stays behind bars beyond the minimum of 17 years imposed by Williams.

“We got essentially what was a max sentence for this case,” Willoughby said.

Efforts to reach Rudy Bautista, Hines’ attorney, were not immediately successful.

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