MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) – A Medford butcher has been sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing a female acquaintance.
Jose Valencia-Gaona will have the chance for parole after 25 years. He was sentenced Thursday, two days after a jury convicted him of murder in the death of 38-year-old Maria Rodriguez.
The Mail Tribune newspaper reports that five members of Rodriguez’s family wore T-shirts memorializing her. Two addressed Valencia-Gaona in court, talking about the damage he had done to their family.
Prosecutors described Rodriguez as the man’s former girlfriend, but the woman’s relatives said the two had only been friends.
Filed under: Crime, Oregon
