COEUR d’ALENE — Tyler M. Finlay was let down by the judiciary, by his attorneys and the court, a First District judge said Tuesday at Finlay’s sentencing for manslaughter in Coeur d’Alene.

If the judiciary had done its job and held Finlay responsible for his past crimes, the 22-year-old may not be facing a prison sentence, District Judge John Mitchell said before ordering Finlay to serve a minimum of four years behind bars for killing a 29-year-old Coeur d’Alene businessman last summer in a downtown altercation. Mitchell’s sentence also allows for an additional 11 years of indeterminate prison time that can be tacked on at the discretion of the Idaho Department of Correction if Finlay isn’t a model inmate.

Finlay was on unsupervised probation from his second DUI and a misdemeanor marijuana conviction when he punched Jeffrey Marfice around 1:30 a.m. June 18 on Fourth Street. Marfice had come to the rescue of his fiancee and some other women who were being harassed by a group of young men. After being punched, reportedly as he turned away from Finlay, Marfice fell down and struck his head. He was transported by ambulance to Kootenai Health and died the next day.

Mitchell apologized to the family of the victim, to Finlay’s family, and to the defendant.

“I apologize because you folks have been let down,” Mitchell said. “Because you have been let down by people paid to do the right thing.”

Finlay was sentenced to unsupervised probation four years earlier for being drunk as a minor with a blood alcohol content of more than .10 when he struck a tree on an icy road. He was arrested the same year for being a minor in possession of alcohol. Two years later in 2016, he got his second DUI. Each time, Mitchell said, a magistrate followed the recommendations of counsel and placed Finlay on unsupervised probation. When he failed to appear in court, he wasn’t held accountable. In December 2016, while on probation, he was charged with possession of a controlled substance, marijuana. He pleaded guilty in June and served a day in jail.

“Sixteen days later you killed Jeff Marfice,” Mitchell said. “I apologize to you. You might not be going to prison if someone had held you accountable.”

Mitchell admonished the system that seemed to doggedly refuse to punish the brash young man, a former Lakeland football standout, who wasn’t given the opportunity to learn from being penalized, the judge said.

“No one cared what you did, and that is wrong,” Mitchell said.

The odds of Finlay doing the right thing intuitively were miniscule, he said.

“You were too young and immature, which is why we have supervised probation,” Mitchell said. “The judiciary and attorneys let you down.”

In a sweltering and packed courtroom hearing that lasted almost five hours, Marfice’s family members and friends admonished Finlay and remembered Marfice as a friend, brother, lover and relative. He was a father of two girls. He volunteered regularly, played golf at Lake City High School and for North Idaho College before starting an accounting business. He died on Father’s Day, which was also his daughter’s birthday. He was selfless and joyful, someone who always helped others.

“How Jeff acted that night speaks to who he was in all aspects of his life,” Jeffrey’s mother, Jeanne, said.

Sean Walsh, Finlay’s attorney, said the result of the punch thrown by the defendant was a fluke.

“There are fights downtown a lot,” Walsh said. “I heard this described as a one-in-a-million type injury.”

Walsh countered statements by witnesses who accused his client of not taking responsibility for Marfice’s death.

“It’s not a failure to admit guilt to say the consequences were unintentional,” he said.

When it was his turn to speak, Finlay, who wore orange jail clothing and hung his head for much of the testimony as he sat beside his attorney, sobbed when he stood and apologized to Marfice’s family.

“I am so sorry,” he said between sobs. “I never intended any of this to happen. I pray for every single one of you and hope God (will) heal your broken hearts.”

The court received 59 letters from people who supported Finlay.

Deputy prosecutor Stan Mortensen didn’t question the veracity of the letters, but the injury that led to Marfice’s death was no accident, he said.

“I don’t prosecute accidents,” Mortensen said. “We prosecute conduct. We criminalize conduct.”

He asked the court for a 15-year sentence with five years fixed.

Walsh, who urged the court to place Finlay in a one-year prison rehabilitation or rider program, said his client’s remorse was genuine and his life is forever changed.

“With Tyler, I met a person, I can’t put into words the goodness,” Walsh said.

Mitchell didn’t doubt Finlay’s remorse, and he didn’t think the 22-year-old needed rehabilitation.

“My decision is really based on deterrence, and it’s based on punishment,” the judge said. “You intended to hurt him quite badly, and you killed him.”

Society, Mitchell said, won’t allow probation as a sentence.

“If we put you on probation we’d be looking at perhaps pitchforks and torches,” Mitchell said. “The public outcry would be too severe.”

Finlay, who is in the Kootenai County Jail awaiting transport to the Idaho Department of Correction, has 42 days to appeal the judge’s decision.