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On one hand, Randy Shea Gardner helped authorities find Julian Wabinga鈥檚 body, giving his family some certainty, a Yakima County Superior Court Judge said.

But Judge Kevin Naught said the fact that Gardner shot Wabinga as he begged for his life outweighed that and any other possible mitigating factors.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 get past that,鈥� Naught said during Gardner鈥檚 sentencing hearing Tuesday. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 overlook that.鈥�

Naught sentenced Gardner, 49, to 40陆 years in prison for murdering Wabinga, illegally possessing a handgun and threatening to kill a witness. The sentence was 16 months shy of the top of the sentencing range for the murder charge. It includes 9陆 years of firearms enhancements, which cannot be reduced for good behavior.

A jury found Gardner guilty in February of first-degree murder in Wabinga鈥檚 death, as well as second-degree assault, felony harassment and first-degree unlawful firearms possession following a trial last month.

Gardner was accused of shooting Wabinga, 45, in the summer of 2017 at Gardner鈥檚 mother-in-law鈥檚 property where he and Wabinga were staying, and burying his body in a barn on the property. In November that year, Gardner told Yakima County sheriff鈥檚 detectives that Wabinga was buried in the barn after someone else had shot him, but a search at that time with cadaver dogs failed to turn up the body.

In June 2018, a day after he was released from the Yakima County jail on an unrelated burglary charge, Gardner again called the sheriff鈥檚 office to report the body, and as deputies watched he proceeded to dig up Wabinga鈥檚 remains.

Ken Therrien, Gardner鈥檚 attorney, said his client maintains his innocence and will be appealing his conviction.

Tirza Finley, Wabinga鈥檚 sister, asked Naught to give Gardner the sentence he deserved, saying that the evidence in court showed Gardner had no respect for human dignity or life.

鈥淢y brother was murdered over the impounding of a truck. Mr. Gardner, in my opinion, is a coward and a bully, and my brother was murdered because (Gardner) could not bully my brother,鈥� Finely said

She said the family went for two years without knowing what had happened to Wabinga until his remains were finally identified. Finley also called Gardner a 鈥渟train on society鈥� and said the only remorse he seems to have is for himself 鈥渂ecause he did not get away with this.鈥�

Chief Criminal Deputy Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Aaron argued for the maximum sentence possible, which would have been almost 42 years, for what he described as a 鈥渃owardly act鈥� of first shooting Wabinga in the leg from behind as Wabinga walked away from him, and then shooting him in the head as he was begging for mercy.

Over Therrien鈥檚 objections, Aaron pointed to a 1996 attack in Utah where Gardner took a woman up a canyon southeast of Salt Lake City and, when she rebuffed his sexual advances, hit her repeatedly with a rock, raped and strangled her, and then ran her over multiple times with her own car.

The woman survived the attack and was able to find a phone at a construction site to call police.

Gardner was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to two to 17 years in prison. Court records show he was also convicted of trying to smuggle drugs into the Utah prison.

Prosecutors tried, but weren鈥檛 able to obtain a certified record of Gardner鈥檚 conviction in Utah. If that had been submitted, he could have faced a higher sentencing range, Aaron said.

Aaron also noted that after killing Wabinga, Gardner and another man forced their way into a Yakima home to collect a drug debt, and Gardner stabbed the victim of that assault multiple times.

Originally charged with second-degree assault, Gardner pleaded guilty to residential burglary and was sentenced to time served.

During the trial, jurors were not allowed to hear about the Utah conviction or the details of the home invasion, only being told that Gardner was in the jail in November 2017 and that he had a conviction that disqualified him from owning firearms.

Naught said he would not consider the Utah case in his sentencing, as the only information that was provided was a Salt Lake County sheriff鈥檚 report that was not written under oath. He also said there were no common patterns in the attack in Utah and Wabinga鈥檚 killing.

Gardner only spoke during the proceeding to say he had nothing to say about the sentence, and answered Naught鈥檚 questions about the state of his finances.

Naught also signed orders barring Gardner from contacting Douglas Irwin, who testified that Gardner shot Wabinga and then forced him at gunpoint to help bury the body, and Ashley Heether, Gardner鈥檚 ex-wife who also testified against him.

This story was updated to correct Tirza Finley's statement about Randy Shea Gardner.