Associated Press - July 20, 2009 7:34 PM ET
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - 1 of 2 men accused in the beating death of a 64-year-old woman has been sentenced to two life terms in prison with the possibility of release after 25 years.
Armando Estrada III could have gotten the life terms without the possibility of release, but the judge in the case says he believes it was Estrada's brother-in-law's idea to rob and kill Mamie Lim Gong in May 2007.
Pima County Superior Court Judge John Leonardo also cited Estrada's remorse and dysfunctional family as other mitigating factors.
Gong hired Estrada for $40 a day to clear portions of the five acres she owned in Three Points, about 25 miles southwest of Tucson.
Prosecutors say Estrada and his brother-in-law, Rosendo Valenzuela, killed Gong, took her debit card, and stole her truck. Her badly decomposed body was found 19 days later.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
