Quinn Cruz Found Guilty Of Capital Murder

It took the jury a little less than two hours to come to the decision of guilty for capital murder for Quinn Cruz. They believe that Cruz intentionally killed not just Tanya West, but also her unborn child.

KFOX talked to the family of West, and they said it's a bittersweet victory for them.

"It makes us feel somewhat happy in a sad moment," said Lawrence Felts, West's brother.

"It's just pain, agony, depression, loss in a world, a lot of anger," said Lawrence M. Felts, West's father.

A mix of emotions as the family learned that Cruz will spend life in prison without parole for shooting and killing West.

"God brought us some kind of judgment. You know, it's just on Quinn that hopefully he repents and God will forgive him too I guess," said her brother.

During the conviction and sentencing, Cruz could be seen with what appeared to be a small smile on his face. Cruz's family quickly left the courtroom after the sentencing. Their defense lawyer spoke for them, defending his position.

"If you are going to be convicted of a capital murder, it should be because you intended to kill each one of the people you are charged with killing, that you knew it," said Jaime Gandara, Cruz's defense attorney.

The end of the trial gave West's family one more chance to speak of their loss.

"Tanya was one of the most beautiful people in the world, and it's lesser of a place now that she's gone," said her brother.

"She was always perky, and always perky, I mean she was just, she loved life, she really did," said her father.

And one more chance to think about what they could have done.

"I guess it's always going to be inside me that I didn't come down, and protect her more than I should've. I'm going to have it inside of me forever," said West's father.

They said Thursday's verdict gives them faith again.

"There's one thing I learned out of all of this: Their is a God," said West's father.

The defense said they will appeal this case, and in fact prosecutors said this could go pretty far because this is the first case of its kind in El Paso County dealing with the killing of a 20-day-old embryo.