ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—A Mexican national convicted of the 2019 slaying of the mother of two New Mexico state police officers in a case that drew national attention has been sentenced to life in prison.
Luis Talamantes-Romero also received an additional prison term of 26.5 years on Wednesday for eight other felony convictions in the death of Jacqueline Vigil.
He declined to address the court before his sentencing.
Talamantes-Romero, 35, was convicted in April of first-degree murder along with aggravated burglary, attempted armed robbery, tampering with evidence, conspiracy, and other charges.
Authorities said Vigil, 55, was killed outside her northwest Albuquerque home in an attempted burglary in November 2019. She was shot in her driveway as she prepared to leave for a gym.
The case went unsolved for months, drawing the attention of then-President Donald Trump as he pushed his tough-on-crime agenda. Vigil’s family also traveled to Washington to meet with Trump.
Prosecutors said the crime was random as Talamantes-Romero and a passenger drove around Vigil’s upscale neighborhood looking for cars to burglarize.
The man who was with Talamantes-Romero when Vigil was shot agreed to testify against him as a condition of his plea agreement with the state on charges unrelated to the murder, according to authorities.
Friends Read Free