Their father was murdered over a drink in Pasco. ‘I will never forgive you’

A judge said Tuesday it is difficult to wrap his head around the idea that someone was brutally murdered over a drink.

Froilan Godines was a bouncer at a Pasco nightclub when he stopped a couple for taking alcohol out of the bar.

The customer, Adan Virgen-Ponce, got angry about being confronted and fought with the bouncer until others broke them up.

He returned with his adult nephew a short time later and stabbed Godines in the parking lot near El Patron Night Club and Restaurant.

Godines, a 41-year-old father of seven, died after arriving at a Tri-City hospital.

“That’s something I cannot understand, cannot explain, certainly cannot justify,” said Judge Cameron Mitchell. “This kind of damage to the families, beyond the taking away of a life or the lives impacted by all this, over a drink.”

Virgen-Ponce fled to Mexico after the Feb. 7, 2010, attack.

He was extradited a year ago, and earlier this month pleaded guilty in Franklin County Superior Court to second-degree murder.

On Tuesday, Virgen-Ponce, now 38, was ordered to serve 18 years in prison.

Mitchell — after listening to emotional statements from Godines’ widow and kids — said no sentence he can give would undo the damage that’s been done or the pain and suffering the family has experienced.

He said he was reluctantly accepting Virgen-Ponce’s plea agreement because prosecutors and the defense worked long and hard on it.

The 18-year term is just four months shy of the top of the standard range for the crime given Virgen-Ponce’s history.

‘Hate is too much of a burden’

The judge said he hopes Godines’ children will keep in mind the words of their brother, Steven Morales, “that hate is too much of a burden for you folks, (and) to not let Mr. Virgen-Ponce’s actions define you as you go forward.”

He added that it wasn’t easy for him to give this advice to the still-grieving family.

“There’s always going to be pain and sorrow,” said Mitchell. “Do not let the hate magnify that.”

Godines was killed one day before his 42nd birthday.

He was held down by Concepcion Virgen, while Virgen-Ponce stabbed him.

The two men immediately left town that night. Virgen-Ponce’s car was found one week later abandoned in Yakima, and blood stains on the driver’s seat matched the victim’s DNA.

Virgen, now 29, is believed to still be living in Mexico.

An ‘extremely senseless act’

Defense attorney Karla Kane Hudson spoke on her client’s behalf Tuesday, saying what happened nine years ago was “completely out of character” for Virgen-Ponce.

She said Virgen-Ponce had been drinking that night, and possibly was drunk, when he killed Godines -- an “extremely senseless” act, she added.

Hopefully his guilty plea and sentence will bring a little peace to the victim’s family and allow everyone to move forward, Kane Hudson said.

Godines’ children called Virgen-Ponce a coward, selfish, heartless, a “piece of s---” and “a complete waste of space.”

Karen Montes said every time she closes her eyes, she pictures her father dead on the hospital bed with blood everywhere from his stab wounds. She said she fell to her knees crying in disbelief, knowing she had been robbed of time with her dad for so many big moments in her future.

Montes said that not only did they miss out on their father’s birthday celebration — they buried him on Valentine’s Day. Every February now is full of pain and tears as the family marks those dates.

“My dad was such an amazing, big-hearted person that would bend over backwards for anyone. He wasn’t the kind of person to cause anyone harm,” Montes said.

“Froilan was not just my dad; he was my best friend, the person I always counted on, my protector, my world,” she added. “He was the glue that had held my family together.”

Montes thanked the Pasco police officers and detectives, and Franklin County prosecutors for their work in bringing “this worthless man to justice.”

“You literally killed my dad out of anger because he beat you up after you started fighting him over a drink,” Montes said to Virgen-Ponce. “My dad was more of a man than you will ever be or hope to be. ... You ripped the very heart from my chest and I will never forgive you.”