MANCHESTER, NH — A man in prison for 15 years for his role in a 2007 murder is asking a judge to suspend the remainder of his 25-years-to-life sentence.
Michael Soto, 35, formerly of Nashua, was 17-years-old when he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. He didn’t fire the shot that killed Aaron Kar in Manchester, but prosecutors say he wiped down the gun and cocked it before handing it to Roscoe White, then 18, who shot and killed Kar.
White was seeking revenge for the beating of his brother, Roney White, 20, that happened earlier on Jan. 2, 2007, the day Kar was murdered.
White, aided by friends, murdered Kar, a teenage Liberian native who lived in Chelsea, Mass., and was in the city visiting friends.
Kar was originally sentenced to life in prison but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled later that automatic life sentences for minors are unconstitutional. As a result, Soto was resentenced in 2019 to 25-years to life. He now is asking Judge N. William Delker, presiding in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District, to suspend the remainder of that sentence.
On Monday, a prosecutor told the judge that the new sentence from 2019, a minimum of 25 years, is appropriate. The prosecutor also said Soto has not taken responsibility for his role in the killing, but the defense said that is not correct.
Defense attorneys Charles Bookman and Ghazi D. Al-Maryayati said in court documents that Soto was resentenced to 25 years to life with one year of the minimum term suspended for 20 years upon good behavior and completion of recommended programming. He received 4,032 days of pretrial credit.
Soto has now completed 15 years of his 24-year minimum sentence and, his attorneys say, is eligible to apply for a reduction of his minimum term from 24 years to 17 years. They said Soto could request it be reduced to 16 years, but is not.
Since his incarceration, the lawyers said Soto has learned, worked and matured and completed many rehabilitative and education programs. Among those were three Alternatives to Violence Project workshops offered by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
He also completed coursework including almost two dozen classes ranging from business and career information to anger management to conflict resolution.
In 2017, Soto started working in the prison’s kitchen. His performance reports are exemplary, his attorneys say. Soto has learned how to succeed in an employment setting and has achieved outstanding results. The attorneys say special note should be taken of his June 1, 2018 evaluation, written when Soto was 28 years old, in which he received a perfect evaluation score.
His supervisor wrote: “Soto has worked for me for the last 3 years or better. In my 20+ years I have never given a perfect score. This time I feel I have to. Soto has done every job in the kitchen and has done an excellent job. He is very important for the smooth running of the kitchen. He is the best worker we’ve had.”
Soto continues to take classes available to him, sign up for experiences like the barbershop clinic and read a variety of books focusing on business subjects.
He also has renounced his ties to the Gangster Disciples STG, according to court documents.
In 2015, Soto was transferred to a facility in Kansas in 2015, where he remained until his return to New Hampshire in 2016.
According to a Kansas Department of Corrections Review of Interstate Corrections Compact Request, Soto’s transfer was so that he could “have a fresh start in a new system.”
The Review noted: “He is affiliated with the Gangster Disciples STG.” The Kansas classification process indicates that he admitted to being associated with the Gangster Disciples, beginning at the age of nine when he was living a comparatively unsupervised life as a child, and that “he planned to disassociate himself with this organization here and start with a clean slate.”
In April, 2016, Soto expressed to a mental health professional a desire for mental health counseling. A staff member provided him an extended visit on April 1, 2016. During that encounter, Mr. Soto reported that he no longer considered himself to be gang involved. The staff member wrote in Soto’s record: “BHP [Behavioral Health Personnel] follow up on this information and it is substantiated.”
Soto asked for some educational materials concerning psychological trauma. The staff member thereafter provided him a book entitled “Healing Developmental Trauma.” At the time of the next visit on April 29, 2016, Mr. Soto had been reading the book and reported many years of childhood abuse and trauma.
The attorneys also say Soto has repeatedly expressed responsibility for his crime, including when he was transferred to Kansas, upon his return to New Hampshire, and at his sentencing hearing in 2019.
In December 2023, Soto was disciplined for possession of drugs or paraphernalia.
His attorneys say Soto could have received lengthy privilege sanctions and the loss of visits for up to a year. He instead lost recreation and canteen for 50 days.
Despite his incarceration, Soto has maintained and further developed important relationships. He has remained close, and become even closer with his sister, Sapphire Jackson, and his mother, Judy Velez, who will be important sources of support for him. In her attached letter, Ms. Jackson, a nurse and mother, writes, “Michael has a strong support system with a large amount of people not only waiting for him to come home but that are willing to help him financially, emotionally, and physically.”
During his incarceration, Soto has visited regularly with Maribel Perez, a friend from his teenage years, prior to his incarceration. She is now a gastroenterologist technician and medical assistant living in Nashua with her four children. She became reacquainted with Soto during his incarceration.
They have developed a strong attachment. She visits him, sometimes with her children, and speaks regularly with him on the phone. He has become an important part of her children’s lives. Having known him since he was very young, she speaks glowingly of the man Soto has matured into over the years.
They expect to reside together upon his release, according to court filings.
A former fellow inmate has also committed to providing Soto a job with his contracting business when Soto is released.
“While incarcerated, Mr. Soto has demonstrated potential for, and has made tremendous progress in his rehabilitation,” that attorneys wrote. “Mr. Soto has long ago abandoned his gang allegiance, despite being in an environment in which doing so posed serious challenges, including risks to his personal safety. He has accepted responsibility for the harm he has caused, admitting and accurately describing his role in his offense.”
“He has behaved well, developed important job skills, and has embraced the need to gain deeper insight into and understanding of his own psychology and the role that trauma has played in defining his personality. He has striven for self-improvement and has made great advancements educationally. In fact, he has nearly exhausted the ways the prison can help him, and he is thankful for what the prison has provided him.
“Mr. Soto is now in a position to succeed upon release from incarceration and appears clearly to fit squarely in the group of juvenile offenders who are unlikely to continue to commit criminal acts into adulthood,” according to his attorneys.