Portland man sentenced to 17 years for stabbings

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A Portland resident who fatally stabbed a man and later tried to kill a witness has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Sioeli Pangia Mohulamu didn’t make a statement at Monday’s sentencing hearing in Multnomah County. He pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter and attempted murder.

Mohulamu was 19 when he killed Gerrardo Granados-Marin on Oct. 5, 2015, in North Portland.

It’s unclear how Mohulamu knew the 33-year-old man or what triggered the violence.

Police originally arrested another man -Leo Burns - in the killing because witnesses said Burns and Granados-Marin had gotten into a fistfight earlier that night. Investigators later determined that Burns lied about the fight and didn’t kill Granados-Marin.

Prosecutors said Mohulamu stabbed the witness in the neck in 2016.

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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com