The man convicted of killing Millard County, UT, Deputy Josie Greathouse Fox in 2010 has been sentenced to a prison sentence of life plus 80 years, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.
On Thursday, seven years and two trials after Fox was slain with an AK-47 and found in a pool of her own blood, U.S. District Judge David Nuffer sentenced Roberto Miramontes Roman to a prison sentence of life plus 80 years, the maximum punishment he was facing and the one prosecutors requested.
The shortest sentence Roman, 44, could have received was 100 years behind bars. Federal law requires mandatory minimum terms of 20 years in prison for the killing and 80 years for his convictions on other crimes, with the terms required to run consecutively.
There is no parole in the federal system, which means offenders serve their entire term, minus any "good time" credit of up to about 50 days a year for their behavior in prison.
Defense attorney Stephen McCaughey — who noted Roman maintains his innocence — said that even with that credit, a 100-year term would keep his client incarcerated for the rest of his life.
But Nuffer said a life term was necessary to reflect the seriousness of the crime and provide deterrence, saying criminals must know if they kill a law-enforcement officer, they will never go free.
A federal jury convicted Roman on Feb. 7 of eight charges, including intentionally killing a local law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of official duties and using a firearm during a crime of violence.
The conviction came in Roman's second trial on a charge of killing the 37-year-old Fox, who was hit by two bullets as she approached the Cadillac sedan she had stopped because the occupants were suspected of being involved in a drug transaction.
