BOSTON, April 30, 2014—Alfonso “Itto” Rivas was remembered as caring and generous by his heartbroken siblings this morning as the two men convicted of murdering him were sentenced to life in prison, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

REGINALD HOLLEY (D.O.B. 11/22/89) of Dorchester and OASIS PRITCHETT (D.O.B. 10/5/90) of Roxbury were convicted yesterday of first-degree murder under the theory of felony murder in 23-year-old Rivas’ slaying and this morning appeared before Suffolk Superior Court Judge Patrick Brady to receive the mandatory sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole.  Brady also sentenced the two to four to five years in prison to be served concurrent to their life sentences on their convictions for unlawful possession of the firearm used to kill Rivas and placed on file the duos convictions for armed robbery – the requisite felony for the felony murder conviction.

Alfonso Rivas, 23, was shot dead during a robbery in 2012. Today, his killers were sentenced to life in prison.

Rivas’ two sisters took the stand to deliver victim impact statements describing how Rivas’ Oct. 17, 2012, murder devastated their lives and their family.

“Knowing you were committing a [robbery], you took it one step further and murdered a man,” Rivas’ eldest sister told the court.  “Not just any man.  A man who had two sisters and a brother who loved him unconditionally regardless of his flaws in life.  A mother who gave birth to him and had to watch her 23-year-old son die in a hospital bed to one fatal shot.  Two children he fathered and two others that weren’t his, now will grow up fatherless.”

“Nothing in this world will ever bring my brother back no matter how much I pray.  Nothing in this world will ever make me happy the way I used to be,” Rivas’ other sister said in an emotional impact statement that described the young man as “hilarious, smart, giving, and sweet.”

Suffolk prosecutors presented evidence and testimony during the two-week trial to prove that Holley and Pritchett had plans to rob Rivas on Oct. 17, 2012, when they arranged to meet the victim under the ruse of wanting to buy marijuana at the victim’s 14 Lyndhurst Street apartment.  Surveillance images showed Holley and Pritchett enter the building and then flee three minutes later after shooting Rivas and taking a quantity of marijuana and an iPhone.

They fled to Shawmut MBTA station, where they boarded a train to Ashmont.  Once there, they took a bus to Holley’s home that carried the two past the murder scene.

Rivas suffered a mortal gunshot wound to the head and died at Boston Medical Center.

Assistant District Attorneys Gretchen Lundgren and Nicole Rimar prosecuted the case.  Timothy Munzert and Katherine Moran were the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocates.  Pritchett was represented by attorney Jonathan Shapiro and Holley by Aviva Jeruchim.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.