BISBEE — Two men  convicted of killing another man in 2008 near Willcox were sentenced Thursday to spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Israel Otero, 28, and John Romero, 39, were found guilty in Cochise County Superior Court of first-degree murder of Patrick Gleason and tampering with physical evidence at a residence along El Sol Lane.

Gleason went to Oter-o’s residence in June last year to collect a $170 drug debt. He was beaten to death with at least one baseball bat and his body was dumped.

In a sentencing hearing Thursday, deputy county attorney Roger Contreras asked Judge Wallace Hoggatt to sentence them to natural life terms, meaning they could never get out of prison.

Defense attorneys for Otero and Romero argued they should only serve ordinary life terms so they could be eligible for parole after 25 years. Hoggatt agreed with the prosecution that there were sufficient aggravating factors for both defendants to make sentences of natural life appropriate for the first-degree murder convictions.

He said their actions were “especially depraved” because Otero wrote a rap song describing his pride for killing Gleason and because Romero gloated that the bat that killed Gleason was bent.

Some of the other aggravators included action in the presence of accomplices, commission of the crime for pecuniary gain and Otero’s three prior felony convictions.

Otero’s attorney, Tori Bryant, told the court she thinks 25 years in prison would be enough time.

Peter Kelly, who represented Romero, said he does not know what ends of justice are served by imposing natural life terms because some prisoners are not a threat to society when they reach old age or experience poor health.

He warned that sentencing defendants to natural life terms will cause the Department of Corrections to basically run a nursing home facility for them.

At Thursday’s hearing, Otero apologized for his actions. Romero did not make a statement to the court.

The defendants were also sentenced for the tampering with evidence convictions. Otero must serve 11⁄2 years in prison, while Romero must serve one year in prison.

 

Those terms will run consecutively to the natural life sentences, said Hoggatt.

Co-defendant Jonathan Ramil was sentenced to 17 years in prison in July after being convicted of second-degree murder of Gleason and evidence tampering.