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       The way authorities tell it, Collin Potter was an active duty Navy sailor who met a man at a local bar and brought him home for what a judge described as a “romantic hookup.”

       The two shared a glass of wine, prosecutors say, then Potter stabbed the man 42 times.

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       On Friday, a judge sentenced Potter, who prosecutors say had trained as a Navy SEAL for 54 days before dropping out of the program, to 16 years in prison in the Jan. 5, 2019, slaying of 36-year-old Vongell Lugo.

       “I’d like to say I am truly very sorry. I know an apology is insufficient. I deserve prison,” Potter said in court, as about 20 of Lugo’s friends and family looked on. “I feel I will spend the rest of my life having a positive impact on other people’s lives to make up for what I have done.”

       According to authorities, Potter left his friends after a night of partying in Quantico, Va., took a Lyft into the District and ended up at the Black Whiskey bar on 14th Street in Northwest Washington. In the wee morning hours, Lugo invited Potter back to his apartment where the two had glasses of wine, authorities said.

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       A neighbor awoke to Lugo screaming “Please stop” repeatedly, and called 911 authorities said. When police arrived, they discovered a nude Potter, whose hands and feet were covered in blood, dragging Lugo’s naked and bloodied body down the hallway.

       According to prosecutors, Potter repeatedly referred to Lugo as his “girlfriend” and claimed that Lugo’s injuries were “self inflicted.”

       Earlier this year, Potter pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while armed. If he had gone to trial, he would have faced up to 24 years in prison if found guilty. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors and Potter’s attorney agreed to 14 to 16 years of imprisonment.

       Potter’s attorney, Matthew Davies of the District’s Public Defender Service, said his client had a history of childhood trauma, mental illness and alcohol abuse that led to the violent attack on Lugo.

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       At the sentencing Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter V. Roman asked Judge Marisa Demeo to sentence Potter to 16 years, calling the slaying a “horrific” and “unprovoked” attack.

       “He is clearly a danger to the community, perhaps more so because he does not appear to be one on the surface,” the prosecutor said.

       Lugo’s mother, sister, brother and host of friends spoke told the judge of how the crime had left them crestfallen; some said they considered it a hate crime and believed Potter should have received an even stiffer sentence. Friend Gregory Porter said Lugo had the motto “Once seen, never forgotten” tattooed on his body, and it was now inscribed on his tombstone.

       “There are no words to describe my feeling today,” Lugo’s mother, Victoria Lugo, told the judge. “Neither the dictionary nor Google have any words. My heart hurts. My son’s life was taken for a selfish reason. No mother should have to go through this.”

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       Demeo said that she gave Potter credit for accepting responsibility for his crime and his military service, but she was “struck” by how such a violent attack “could happen to such a beautiful soul.” While she called the case “a tragedy for both sides,” she asserted it was “more tragic for Mr. Lugo and his family and friends.”

       Demeo ordered Potter to seek help for psychological issues, noting he had not sought such treatment in his four years in the D.C. jail.

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