A San Jose man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the 2019 killing of his mother, a well-regarded local elementary school teacher. Jurors found Ryan Garner guilty of a fatal assault, and Superior Court Judge Hanley Chew handed down the indeterminate sentence Monday after emotional victim-impact statements from family and friends.
According to The Mercury News, Garner will receive credit for roughly six and a half years he has already spent in custody. Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Malinsky said, “While no punishment can bring Cynthia back or undo her family’s pain, today’s sentence hopefully delivers to them a measure of justice.” Prosecutors said the term was intended to reflect the brutality of the assault.
What Investigators Say Happened
On July 18, 2019, investigators say, Garner drove his mother, 57-year-old teacher Cynthia Mykkanen, to Regional Medical Center in San Jose and left her in the emergency room. Hospital staff reported she showed no signs of brain activity and placed her on life support, according to CBS Bay Area. Doctors later determined her injuries were not survivable, and she was removed from life support.
Inside the Home and the Arrest
When officers searched the home on the 3300 block of Cortese Circle, they found a bloody scene and evidence that Mykkanen’s head had been slammed into a wall. Detectives also recovered security footage that showed Garner carrying her toward a pickup truck, Bay City News reported. Later that night, officers stopped Garner’s vehicle on U.S. Highway 101 at Blossom Hill Road in south San Jose and arrested him.
Family Speaks Out at Sentencing
In court, relatives and friends described a family ruptured beyond repair. Some said Garner showed no remorse and told the judge they had disowned him, with several family members delivering stark, unflinching victim-impact statements, according to The Mercury News. The outlet also reported that months before the killing, Garner had been convicted of assault and false imprisonment after violently attacking his mother, in a no-contest plea that resulted in time served and three years of probation that remained active at the time of the fatal assault. Court filings and prior coverage state that Garner twice refused to be transported to his sentencing, which forced the court to proceed without him present…