A jury found Miles Tovar guilty of reckless manslaughter Friday, March 8, more than four years after he killed his roommate in a Breckenridge apartment.

Tovar, who has spent more than a year in the Summit County jail, claimed that he acted in self defense when he strangled then-29-year-old Brendan Rye on Nov. 6, 2019, leading to Rye’s death. But the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said Tovar instigated the deadly confrontation and provoked Rye.

Prosecutors charged Tovar, now 40, with manslaughter, a Class 4 felony; first-degree burglary, a Class 3 felony; and two counts of first-degree criminal trespass, a Class 5 felony. In addition to the manslaughter charge, the jury found Tovar guilty of a single count of criminal trespass — but not guilty of first-degree burglary or the second count of criminal trespass.

Reckless manslaughter is punishable by up to six years in prison, and first-degree criminal trespass is punishable by up to three years. Judge Karen Romeo set a sentencing hearing for May 9.

Tovar’s defense attorney Dana Christiansen said that Tovar was disappointed by the outcome of the trial but added that “the jury has spoken.” Christiansen said he would have to talk to his client about whether an appeal will be filed.

The two-week trial revolved around a confrontation between Tovar and Rye in the Grandview Drive condominium unit the two were living in while doing construction work there. 

Law enforcement officers and paramedics who responded to the scene found Rye — who died hours later — unconscious in the master bedroom with a gun under his body, according to testimony.

Law enforcement officers testified that they found Tovar in the hallway of the condo with a bullet wound on his leg.

Before the deadly encounter, Tovar was drinking whiskey in an adjacent condo unit but had reportedly started to make the women who were staying there uncomfortable with his behavior, according to testimony.

Despite being asked to leave, Tovar returned more than once that night to the neighboring condo, with one of the women who was staying there testifying that they locked him out but forgot to lock the door one time. 

When Tovar made it inside again, apparently looking for the bottle of Jim Beam, the woman living there said Tovar shoved Rye, who was escorting him back to their condo. The deadly incident reportedly happened about an hour later.

In closing arguments on Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Joe Kirwan showed an autopsy photo of Rye’s bloodied and bruised face on a television screen.

“This was not a fair fight,” Kirwan said. “That man took this young man’s life.”

Kirwan argued Tovar “started the whole incident,” noting that one law enforcement officer testified that Tovar told him at the scene of the incident that he had gone to Rye’s room to have a “man conversation.”

Tovar’s blood alcohol concentration was double the legal driving limit, while Rye had no alcohol in his system, Kirwan said. He also noted that Rye was only 134 pounds, compared to Tovar who weighed 180 pounds and worked out.

While Tovar says the two fought face-to-face, he was shot in the right leg while Rye apparently had the gun in his right hand, which would require him to have shot Tovar while reaching across his body, in the “most discombobulated way,” Kirwan said.

Prosecutors said Tovar admitted in interviews with police that he kept going back to the women’s condo after being asked to leave, and it was reported in testimony that Tovar shoved Rye while refusing to leave, accounting for the trespassing and burglary charges.

Christiansen said Thursday in closing arguments that the prosecution had not met the burden of proof to show beyond a reasonable doubt what had happened that night. What is known is that Tovar was shot in the leg and had nearly been shot in the chest — as indicated by burns from gunpowder on his abdomen, Christiansen said.

“The gist of his story is firm,” Christiansen said. “Brendan put his hands on him first, then the tussle, then the shot.”

Christiansen said that Tovar never changed his story of what happened that night and has always held that he only started strangling Rye after Rye shot him in the leg. He noted that there is no video or audio recording of Tovar’s alleged “man conversation” comment to law enforcement.

Even if Tovar said this, Christiansen questioned what a “man conversation” means and said that neither that comment nor the alleged shove on Rye an hour earlier are evidence that he provoked the deadly encounter.

But Deputy District Attorney Ryan Kornegay ended closing arguments Thursday by telling the jury that reason should lead them to the truth.

In the almost six hours of interviews Tovar did with police after the incident, Kornegay said, “the story becomes more and more about Rye lying in wait.” He also noted that according to crime scene analysts, all the shots happened inside Rye’s bedroom — not in the hallway or the threshold to the bedroom where Tovar said the first shot happened.

“Who is the person who is coming after who?” Kornegay said. “Who is the person defending their life? It’s not Mr. Tovar. It’s Mr. Rye.”