Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — When Jonathan Hunt, 24, was sentenced to prison in January for the 2018 murder of 20-year-old Noe Armijo-Luna inside a West Jordan restaurant, both the judge and the victim's family accused him of showing no remorse.
Family members were shocked to see Hunt had acquired a tear-shaped tattoo on the left side of his face — something they say gang members can only earn by killing someone. Arlene Armijo told the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole that not only did Hunt show no remorse for killing her son, "He's also bragging about it on his face with that teardrop tattoo."
Yet on Tuesday, just 10 months after being sentenced, Hunt agreed with the family.
"The person that did go into that courtroom is not a person who showed remorse," he said. "I didn't want to take accountability. I didn't want to face the fact I took someone's life."
Hunt was sentenced in January to a term of 20 years to life in the Utah State Prison. His first parole hearing is not scheduled until the year 2040, or 16 years from now. But in cases where a parole hearing is set many years out, the victim's family has the option of attending a victim impact hearing so they don't have to wait that long to have their statements put on the record.
Hunt was given the chance to respond to comments from Armijo-Luna's mother and sister, even though the board will not consider whether to grant parole for many years.
Armijo-Luna, 20, of Midvale, and his friend were eating at a West Jordan Rancherito's on Sept. 14, 2018, about 12:30 a.m. when Hunt and Jayden Olsen walked in. Within two minutes, Hunt — who had never met Armijo-Luna — punched the man and knocked him to the ground, and then shot him twice when he tried to get up.
At trial, Hunt claimed he acted in self-defense.
But according to Armijo-Luna's family, Hunt was trying to earn street credibility to join a gang.
"Jonathan tried to make name for himself by being a muscle man," Arlene Armijo said.
Armijo says Hunt and Olsen "hunted" down her son that night because Olsen was upset with him for befriending Olsen's ex-girlfriend.
She told the board how she taught her son to try to make a positive impact on the world, and he did that by helping others. She said Armijo-Luna would turn strangers into close friends. She recalled one incident in particular in which her son noticed a man by himself in a coffee shop one night and decided to talk to him. They ended up playing chess and talking until 3 a.m. Armijo says that man told her son that he was going to commit suicide that night, but he didn't because of her son's act of kindness.
The mother said her son loved comic books, was the mascot on his school's robotics team and excelled in math and science. She then called out Hunt and his teardrop tattoo, saying he can't claim to be some kind of tough gang member by killing her "nerdy son."
Armijo said Hunt's "lack of remorse and sympathy have added to our trauma."
Likewise, Armijo-Luna's sister, Arianna Lokeni, told the board that she will never forget when Hunt coldly testified during his trial that he did nothing wrong.
"I did not murder anybody, I shot Noe to defend my life," he testified.
But on Tuesday, Hunt claimed his attitude changed on the day he was sentenced when he saw how much Armijo was suffering and heard his own mother crying in the courtroom gallery behind him.
He now says he tried to contain his emotions and wanted to look tough in court. Hunt claimed that Tuesday was the first chance he has had to speak freely about how he really feels.
"Sorry doesn't even begin to scratch the surface at all," he said. "I deserve to pay for what I did and (Armijo-Luna's family) deserve to be heard."
Hunt says every day when he looks in the mirror he is reminded of the "stupid choice" he made.
"I do look at my face and see how stupid it was," he said.
However, Hunt denies that he killed Armijo-Lunda for "street cred." But when asked for a reason for shooting him, Hunt simply said he couldn't answer that right now because of ongoing litigation, only saying that Olsen was "not a good influence in my life."
At the end of the hearing, board member Blake Hills told Hunt that if he wanted his parole hearing in 2040 to go favorably, he needs to stay out of trouble while in prison and take all the courses offered to him.
"It's completely up to you how that hearing will go," he said.
