Sacramento • A Utah woman was sentenced to nearly 50 years in prison Friday for helping her husband as he killed two Northern California sheriff’s deputies in 2014.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steve White sentenced Janelle Monroy after jurors last month rejected her argument that she feared Luis Bracamontes would have killed her if she didn’t help him.
“Ms. Monroy, you did not start this reign of terror, but you joined in immediately after as an active participant,” White said, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Bracamontes is a Mexican citizen who repeatedly entered the United States illegally. President Donald Trump has cited his case to illustrate problems with the nation’s immigration policy.
(Rich Pedroncelli | Associated Press file photo) In this Feb. 9, 2018 file photo, Luis Bracamontes smiles as his guilty verdict was read in the killing of two law enforcement officers, in Sacramento Superior Court in Sacramento, Calif. On Friday, March 23, 2018, his wife, Janelle Monroy, was sentenced to nearly 50 years in prison for helping her husband as he killed two Northern California sheriff's deputies in 2014. Prosecutors say Monroy willingly moved her husband's assault-style rifle from vehicle to stolen vehicle after he killed a Sacramento County deputy and before he killed a Placer County deputy in October 2014.
Bracamontes has repeatedly said in court that he killed the deputies and wished he had killed more.
Monroy, 41, who is a U.S. citizen, willingly moved her husband’s assault-style rifle from vehicle to stolen vehicle after he killed Sacramento County sheriff’s Deputy Danny Oliver and before he killed Placer County sheriff’s Detective Michael Davis Jr. hours later, prosecutors said.
She faced a life sentence after she was convicted of 10 charges including murder, attempted murder and carjacking, attempted carjacking and possessing an assault rifle.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Bracamontes, who was convicted by a separate jury.
The deputies were killed shortly after the couple arrived in Sacramento during what Monroy said was a wandering journey spurred by Bracamontes’ drug-infused paranoia.