UPDATE: Sentencing Begins for Burnsville Man Convicted for 2010 Murder of Apple Valley Man

UPDATE: 4:26 p.m., Jan. 4, 2012

Prosecuting attorneys on Wednesday afternoon in Dakota County Court asked for the maximum 40-year sentence for Jonas Gerald Grice, while Grice's defense attorney asked that Grice be sent to a psychiatric facility for his Oct. 26 murder conviction.

Grice was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally shooting 22-year-old Apple Valley resident Anthony Hartman at a Rosemount car wash in July 2010.

Judge Karen Asphaug said she would issue her sentence at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Grice "did not lack substantial capacity or judgement at the time of the offense," prosecuting attorney Jessica Bierwerth said, countering the defense's point that Grice was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic in 2005.

The prosecution also said that prior incidents—stalking, fifth-degree assault and third-degree criminal sexual conduct—establish a pattern of violence.

"[40 years in prison] is the only sentence that ensures public safety for a continued amount of time," Bierwerth said.

Defense attorney Rickie Leonard Petry's final argument was for sentencing Grice to an extended stay at St. Peter Regional Treatment Center. He said it was unlikely Grice would take his medication on a regular basis in prison and, as a result, his condition would deteriorate.

Grice would receive the medication and psychiatric treatment he needs at St. Peter, Petry said.

UPDATE: 1:33 p.m., Jan. 4, 2012

Dakota County Court Judge Karen Asphaug on Wednesday heard statements from the mother, father and girlfriend of slain Apple Valley man Anthony Hartman, as part of the sentencing of Jonas Gerald Grice, who was convicted of the murder.

Grice, 29, of Burnsville, was convicted of shooting and killing 22-year-old Hartman at a Rosemount car wash on July 12, 2010.

"I'm still waiting for my son to come home," Karen Hartman said during a tear-filled address to the court. "I'm waiting to wake up from this nightmare ... I knew he'd leave home someday but he was supposed to come back with a wife and kids."  

"I'm sorry but 40 years is not nearly enough" prison time, she said, for Grice to pay for his crime.

Anthony Hartman's longtime girlfriend, Chantel Folden, looked at Grice and asked why he was given the right to see Anthony in his final moments of life.

"No sentence would ever satisfy me," she said, after talking about the family she and Hartman planned.

Anthony Hartman's father, Dave Hartman, also asked Asphaug for the most extreme penalty she could give, referencing Grice's history of violence; in 2007, Grice was convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Grice's attorney addressed the court and Hartman's family on behalf of Patricia Grice, Jonas Grice's mother, expressing her condolences for what her son admitted doing and hope that he would be incarcerated in a facility with specialists to help with his mental illness.

Speaking through his defense attorney, Jonas Grice expressed his "sincere sorrow in causing the death of Anthony Hartman." 

Asphaug is slated to hear oral arguments for sentencing this afternoon, and said she'd be prepared to issue the sentence Thursday morning.

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11:44 a.m. Jan. 4, 2012

Sentencing began Wednesday for a 29-year-old Burnsville man convicted of fatally shooting a 22-year-old Apple Valley man at a Rosemount car wash on July 12, 2010.

Jonas Gerald Grice on Oct. 26, 2011, of Apple Valley resident Anthony Hartman.

On Wednesday in Dakota County Court, Judge Karen Asphaug listened to testimony from a victim of a 2004 sexual assault for which Grice also was convicted in 2007.

Asphaug said she wanted to give a "judicial consideration" in Grice's sentencing for the murder.

Grice's sentencing is slated to continue Thursday morning.