Son’s life ‘taken away without care, compassion,’ mother says at killer’s sentencing

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Marion woman said Friday she should be celebrating her only son’s high school graduation Sunday, but instead she has only memories of her “kind, loving and caring” 17-year-old.

Elissa Fiferlick, crying throughout her victim impact statement, said her son, Cristian James Upah, didn’t have a “cruel illness or unexpert(ed) accident.”

His life was “taken away, without care and compassion,” when Keyun McGowan fatally shot him May 10, 2023.

A Linn County jury in March convicted McGowan on a first-degree murder charge and other charges. McGowan, 17 at the time of the slaying, was attempting to rob Upah and his girlfriend, Mia Updegraff, at gunpoint of money and marijuana vape cartridges at 3531 Oakland Rd. NE in Cedar Rapids.

Fiferlick said she thinks about her son’s final moments — the “pain and anguish” of what he must have endured. He lost his chance for a “full and happy life.”

The grieving mother said she will never stop waiting for her son to come home. She looks for him even though she knows he won’t be there. There are many days, she said, she doesn’t want to get out of bed or awake to her sadness.

She asked the court to sentence McGowan to the maximum prison term.

‘Horrific’ slaying

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Jason Upah, Cristian’s dad, said in his statement there are no words to explain how losing his son in such a “horrific manner” has impacted his life.

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He feels sadness and has an emptiness without his son. He is jealous of others just living their lives and he’s jealous of fathers with their sons because he no longer has that relationship.

The father, tearing up at times, said he also has anger on a daily basis. And he’s angry at God for taking a “beautiful soul.”

Upah also feels guilt for moving on and for not being able to change what happened last year and bring back his son.

He is “thankful for all the love and support,” as he pointed out to the judge the overwhelming support from family and friends, wearing shirts with photos of Cristian, who packed the courtroom during the sentencing.

‘Constant fear’

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Updegraff, Cristian’s girlfriend, in her victim impact statement read by another, said a “part of her died” that day and she has struggled ever since. She still has night terrors and post-traumatic stress disorder from watching her boyfriend and “best friend” killed in front of her.

Updegraff said she lived in a “constant state of fear” and couldn’t sleep alone before McGowan was arrested. She had been living with Cristian before the shooting and moved back home with her parents. After McGowan’s arrest, she said she feared one of his friends or family members might seek revenge for her.

She said she’s suffered with anxiety and depression since the shooting and fears being in public. She has lost many friends who blamed her for Cristian’s death but said she wishes it was her instead of “C.J., her hero.”

Sentencing

Before his sentencing, McGowan told the court he was “wrongfully convicted,“ that he didn’t kill Upah and that he is going to be able to go home to his family. Family members and friends were in the courtroom to support him.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Jordan Schier asked the court to sentence McGowan to up to life in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 50 years before being eligible for parole.

Patrick McMullen, McGowan’s lawyer, asked for a sentence of up to life in prison with the possibility of parole and no mandatory minimum.

McGowan was a juvenile — 17 — when he killed Cristian, so he can’t be sentenced to life without parole, the mandatory penalty for a first-degree murder conviction in Iowa.

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Sixth Judicial District Judge Chad Kepros said he considered all the mitigating juvenile factors that must be addressed during sentencing after the U.S. Supreme Court and Iowa Supreme Court banned life prison sentences without possibility of parole for juveniles.

Kepros said he interpreted the law as not allowing him to impose a mandatory minimum.

He also said the circumstances of the crime itself showed McGowan’s lack of maturity and poor decision-making. He arranged a drug deal at an apartment where a friend lived and where he spent time; he posed with a gun on social media alleged to have been used in the crime; and he admitted the crime to his best friend.

Kepros said he didn’t have enough information to know if rehabilitation would be successful for McGowan.

He sentenced McGowan to life in prison with the possibility of parole. He ran the other convictions concurrently — for first-degree robbery, going armed with intent, assault while displaying a dangerous weapon and use of a dangerous weapon.

He added a 25-year sentence on the remaining charge of first-degree robbery — where Updegraff was the victim — to run consecutively to the murder charge but without a mandatory minimum.

McGowan also was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to Cristian Upah’s heirs or estate.

Mandatory?

Schier, after sentencing, thanked Cristian’s family for “their continuing support and strength throughout this process.”

“With regards to the judge’s sentencing, I respect the court, but I completely disagree with it,” Schier said. “This case deserved a mandatory sentencing. The defendant knowingly took the life of a young man. The defendant’s age and maturity had nothing to do with it. He was fully aware of his actions that night he took Cristian Upah’s life.”

Schier said he believed the judge had the discretion and authority to impose a mandatory sentence without any additional evidence or testimony.

“However,” he said, “I am still happy that justice was served and that Cristian Upah’s killer still has the potential to spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com

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