Yoder father sentenced to life in prison for murder of his 6-year-old son

YODER, Colo. (KRDO) -- A judge sentenced Nikolay Krutitskiy to life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was found guilty of murder in early December for the killing of his six-year-old son last year.

A jury convicted Krutitskiy of first-degree murder, child abuse resulting in death, two counts of child abuse, and two counts of menacing after his surviving son told investigators he watched his dad shoot his little brother in the neck in June of 2020.

Krutitskiy's wife testified that her husband had been drinking all day when she came home with her three children. She ran to use the bathroom when they got home, and that's when she heard the gunshot. The family piled into their family car and drove to the Yoder Post Office, as they didn't have service at their home in the rural Colorado town.

Six-year-old Roman Krutitskiy was rushed to a hospital but died of his injuries days later.

During the sentencing hearing, the judge ruled that Krutitskiy will serve his life sentence consecutively to another sentence he was already serving for a drunk driving conviction. That prior conviction was kept hidden from jurors as the court felt it might be too prejudicial.

Krutitskiy was found guilty of driving under the influence in Douglas County in November of 2019, he was waiting to be sentenced when he shot his son in June of 2020. He was sentenced to four years in October of 2020 for his DUI.

Part of the conditions of his bond were that Krutitskiy was not to use firearms or consume alcohol, he was doing both of those things when he shot his son, violating the conditions of his bond.

Once Krutitskiy completes his drunk driving sentence, he will begin his sentence for murder. A judge sentenced him to one year for each menacing count and six months for each child abuse count, those will be served concurrently to his murder sentence. His child abuse resulting in death sentence was merged with his first-degree murder sentence.

Krutitskiy will have another hearing in March of 2022 where a judge will decide if he owes any restitution to his surviving children for his crimes against them.

He waived his appearance at that hearing during his sentencing.