Chad Lundquist/Nevada Appeal Maximilliano Cisneros, 24, looks at his attorney for a moment after District Judge Bill Maddox sentenced Cisneros to 10 years to life in prison and a consecutive sentence of 10 to life.
A Los Angles man was given two life sentences with parole Tuesday in a May 2004 murder.
District Judge Bill Maddox sentenced Maximilliano Cisneros, 24, to 10 years to life in prison and a consecutive sentence of 10 to life because Juan Carlos Alegria, 23, was killed with a deadly weapon.
"I have a feeling based on the testimony in this trial, if you could take it back you would," said Maddox, noting that though he could sentence Cisneros to a definite term of 10 to 25 years, he didn't "want to send a message that you won't get life if you kill someone."
Cisneros did not react, nor was his family present, during Tuesday's proceeding.
Cisneros was found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in December.
According to court testimony, just before midnight on May 25, Alegria drove his friend Fidel Fuentes to the Eighth Street apartment of his estranged girlfriend Katie Armstrong. About 20 minutes earlier, Cisneros, of Los Angeles, had arrived to visit Armstrong.
Cisneros testified he was in the apartment when Fuentes began banging on doors and windows in an attempt to get in.
Fuentes eventually broke through the front door and was confronted by Cisneros in a back bedroom.
When Cisneros got outside he opened fire on Fuentes and Alegria who was standing by.
Fuentes was shot in the leg. Alegria died from four gunshot wounds to the torso.
Prior to Tuesday's sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Tom Armstrong read a letter from Alegria's family.
"We lost a very important member of our family. Juan Carlos was the funny one," sister Alba Alegria wrote on behalf of her and her siblings. "(Cisneros) broke a bond that we are never going to replace again in our lives. It's very hard to see our parents suffer."
Following the hearing, Alba Alegria stood in the hallway with two other family members and tried to determine when Cisneros would be eligible for parole. Counting the year he's already spent in jail, Cisneros will go before the parole board in 2025.
"We're pretty happy about it," she said. "That's a long time."
-- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.
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