Life in prison? "I didn't plan this."

“There was never anything pre-meditated to murder this girl — I was driving the vehicle when this happened,” said Destin Lee Withers, 38, before he was sentenced to life in prison on November 18.

The body of Mayorama Denise Rodriguez, 20, was found dumped on the side of a road in Escondido in February 2012.

Withers and another man, Jeffrey McCreary, 43, were both found guilty of the woman’s murder at the end of a monthlong trial in June.

Withers made statements to a probation officer before he was sentenced: “I know I should have called the police. I know I should have done more. I was found guilty because I didn’t call police.”

He was sentenced to 25 years to life, plus one year for each of his three prior prison convictions, plus five more years for an unfinished sentence he got for selling meth some years prior. Withers was on probation at the time of the murder.

“I testified on my behalf. I was brutally honest,” Withers told a probation officer.

In the witness box, Withers had told the jury: “I hear four rounds go right by my ear.” He claimed he was driving his wife’s Mercedes when his pal McCreary, in the front passenger seat, turned and shot the woman in the backseat four times with a 9mm handgun.

Withers claimed his reaction was: “I said, ‘Dude, what the fuck?’” Then he told McCreary, “This is your fucking problem” before he sent McCreary away to dump the body, clean up the blood, and fix the bullet-punctured car.

McCreary took his turn in the witness box and told the jury that it was his codefendant who pulled the trigger. He did admit, “I dumped the body” but “I didn’t plan it that way.” McCreary said he drove to his parents’ home to get a sponge mop to clean blood that had collected in a crease of the back seat.

The jury did find that McCreary was the one who used the firearm at the time of the murder.

“This lady was taken advantage of,” Withers reportedly said in a probation report. “I tried to help somebody out and during the process the person got killed.”

Evidence during trial suggested that the murder victim had spent days with the men, during which time she had accused one man of rape and caused confrontations. There was testimony that Withers and McCreary became fed up with the woman’s loud wailing and drama and the shooting put an end to it.

“I never knew this was going to happen. I didn’t plan this,” Withers said before his sentencing. “I don’t believe in hurting innocent people. I don’t have any right to decide who lives…. Her little girl is going to have to grow up without her and that’s not fair. I shouldn’t have been involved in the situation. I shouldn’t have been involved in drugs again. I should have done things different. What can I say? What can I do? I’m sorry for the family. They lost something they can’t get back again.”

Withers has custody credits of 1128 days, so far.

Judge Blaine Bowman set the date to sentence codefendant McCreary on January 28 in San Diego’s North County Superior Courthouse.