KINGMAN – A 22-year prison term was ordered Friday for one of two Yucca residents charged in the shooting death of a Kingman man. It was three years less than the possible maximum punishment under terms of a plea agreement convicting Shannon Powell, 23, of second-degree murder.
Powell told authorities that co-defendant Bryan Gibson, 52, first shot Brandon Parlanti, 50, after the Kingman man drove to Yucca to confront Gibson in a drug dispute. Powell claimed he subsequently shot Parlanti to end his suffering and “put him out of his misery.”
Deputy Mohave County Attorney James Schoppmann urged Judge Doug Camacho to reject Powell’s mercy killing claim.
“He’s no doctor,” Schoppmann said. “He’s not the one to get to decide whether it was too late for the victim.”
Defense attorney Daniel Christian asserted that Gibson is most responsible for Parlanti’s death.
“I can’t really tell who was the more culpable person in this case,” the judge said. “It’s not clear to me who was the person that really caused the death.”
Authorities believe Parlanti was killed on Gibson’s property in Aug., 2022. His body was wrapped in a tarp and deposited in a debris pile before it was discovered in Dec., 2022 in the desert near Alamo Road and Boriana Mine Road.
Gibson awaits trial for first degree murder and other charges.
