Julio Segura will be sentenced to 29 years in prison for the death of a Vancouver police officer in 2022

Julio Segura in court on the first day of his murder trial in the case of off-duty Vancouver police officer Donald Sahota, May 6, 2024 (KOIN)

PORTLAND, Oregon (KOIN) — After found guilty of premeditated murder in 2022 Death of an off-duty Vancouver police officerJulio Segura was sentenced to 29 years in prison.

He was also found guilty of premeditated murder, robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle and fleeing from police.

The original incident occurred on the night of Jan. 29, 2022, when off-duty Vancouver police officer Donald Sahota, 53, was at his home near Battle Ground. A man then entered his home and attacked him. Sahota struggled with the intruder, later identified as Julio Segura, while Sahota’s wife called 911.

The argument moved to the porch, where Segura stabbed Sahota, puncturing his lung. Then, minutes later, Sahota was shot and killed by Clark County Deputy Jonathan Feller, who claimed he had mistaken Sahota for the suspect.

Investigators from the Lower Columbia Major Crimes Team said the stabbing “would have been life-threatening without immediate medical intervention.However, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy said the gunshot wounds to Sahota’s chest were “so traumatic that these injuries cost him his life.”

After a lengthy investigation, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office announced Deputy Feller would not be charged in Sahota’s death.

Before the shooting, investigators say Julio Segura was armed with a gun when he robbed a Chevron convenience store in the Orchards neighborhood that night. He then allegedly fled in a stolen vehicle and drove aimlessly to Sahota’s home, where the argument with Sahota occurred.

On May 6 Segura was brought to court before the Superior Court of Clark County for Sahota’s death, originally charged three counts of premeditated murder and one count each of attempted premeditated murder, Second degree murder, attempted first degree kidnapping, first degree burglary, first degree robbery, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle.

Prosecutors alleged that Segura caused Sahota’s death by committing a crime and fleeing from police. The judge dismissed two of the three murder charges on May 23and said the deputy did not know that the defendant had stabbed the officer and could not have known enough at the time to support the murder charge.

“I think we all analyzed this from the perspective of foreseeability and actual causation, rather than legal causation,” said Judge Nancy N. Retsinas. “And given the legal significance of Mr. Segura’s rights, it is appropriate for the court to consider that even at this late hour.”

“Today’s sentencing of the defendant in the murder of Donald Sahota to 29 years in prison provides the family and friends Don left behind with an opportunity to process the painful 2 ½ years,” Vancouver Police Chief Jeff Mori said after the verdict was announced. “We will continue to pray for the Sahota family and the memory of Don Sahota and his service to the police profession, his community and the Vancouver Police Department will live on.”