‘Sorry for taking your baby boy’: Sentence for man who killed Boise Marine irks family

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) – The man who shot and killed a Boise Marine in December 2020 will spend up to 40 years in prison, an Ada County district judge decided Friday morning, but he could earn parole by the end of 2035.

Fourth District Judge Patrick Miller sentenced 22-year-old Devon Arnold to 15 years fixed and 25 indeterminate, meaning there is a possibility of parole for Arnold after he serves 15 years. Miller credited Arnold roughly 18 months for time served since the murder.

Arnold pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder in the death of Lance Cpl. Davis Mosqueda. Stars and Stripes reported that the 20-year-old Marine was home on leave and visiting friends at a Boise apartment on Dec. 30, 2020, when he left to check on a friend in the parking lot. Arnold shot Mosqueda multiple times, and Mosqueda died after being taken to a local hospital.

Mosqueda was quickly climbing the Marine Corps ranks before his death, his father, John Mosqueda, told the Idaho Statesman. Mosqueda enlisted at 17 years old and was stationed at Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., as part of the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, which performs military drills in complete silence.

In victim impact statements in court Friday, Mosqueda’s parents told Miller that their son’s murder was “senseless and ridiculous.”

“(Arnold) stole his life, he stole his career and he stole from this family,” said Mosqueda’s mother, Monica. “The fact that (Arnold) doesn’t feel his future should be forever marked by this is unfortunate, because our lives are forever marked. Davis is gone.”

In his own statement in court, Arnold expressed his remorse to the Mosqueda family.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t regret my actions,” Arnold said. “I could’ve done something different. I wish I had.”

Addressing Mosqueda’s parents directly, Arnold again apologized: “I’m sorry for taking your baby boy from you.”

Miller’s sentence fell between the defense’s request for 30 years, with 15 fixed, and the prosecution’s request for a fixed life sentence in what the prosecutor called “cold-blooded murder of an unarmed stranger.”

John Mosqueda told the Statesman that his family felt the sentence was far too lenient.

“My son didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.