Wyoming man sentenced up to 18 years for killing 1 in 2003 

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - A man was sentenced to up to 18 years in prison after he fatally shot his former co-worker in a Wyoming parking lot in 2003.

Albany County District Court Judge Tori Kricken sentenced 41-year-old Fidel Serrano to 12-18 years after he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter last year, the Laramie Boomerang reported Friday.

The first-degree murder charge was dropped in exchange for the plea, prosecutors said.

Serrano accepted an open plea, meaning there was no agreement on what sentence he should receive. Voluntary manslaughter carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

Serrano and Ramon Galvan-Morales were co-workers at Rocky Mountain Forest Products in Laramie. Serrano shot Galvan-Morales two days after they got into a fight at a dance in Cheyenne, witnesses told police.

Serrano's attorney, Randy Hiller, argued Galvan-Morales claimed to have killed Serrano's girlfriend.

Prosecutor Ben Harwich sought the maximum sentence, arguing "the defendant killed a human being in cold blood."