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Man sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing friend
FOX 26 Reporter Randy Wallace spoke with the victim's family members about the sentence.
HOUSTON - We first told you about James Sotelo in a series of Breaking Bond reports.
Sotelo was free on bond for assault when he murdered 17-year-old Corey Leonard Thompson Jr.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Man accused of murder racks up new charge killing teen while out on bond
A jury listened to a week of testimony in Sotelo's murder trial.
He gunned down Corey in March 2021.
Corey's sister, Torrie Wright, says she had to look at Sotelo every day of the trial.
"It took a large amount of patience," she said. "You can feel your body shaking with anger. But you knew you had to be patient, so you don't have to go through a retrial."
Sotelo took the stand and claimed he shot Corey because he attacked him in his sleep.
"Of course, that's not true, because every gunshot that he had was sustained from the back. 11 of them," said Corey's mother, April Wright.
Did Sotelo show any remorse? "Never, not once," April said.
"He's never going to take accountability for what he did. He never cared, and he's never going to care. He just cares for himself," said Torrie.
It only took the jury four hours to find Sotelo guilty.
"That was a relief for us to know he would take some punishment for what happened," said April.
The trial was in the 232nd Judge Josh Hill's court.
In Breaking Bond reports, we told you how Judge Hill lowered Sotelo's bond amount twice.
"To get out and continue to commit crime again, he was caught with a gun and you were just on bond for murder," April said. "That's terrible."
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It was Judge Hill, not the jury, who sentenced Sotelo to 40 years.
"I learned that most families don't actually get to have the moment we had today and I'm very appreciative of that," Torrie said. "We were able to get a small piece of justice versus what other families can never see in their lives."
"It's better than nothing," said April. "For us, a life sentence would have been better, because that's what we've been sentenced to. We have a life sentence without my son."