Man, 24, says he’s ‘not a criminal,’ gets 18 years in boxer’s 2013 murder
The man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of an aspiring Phoenix boxer refused to accept responsibility in the moments before he was sentenced to 18 years in prison following a brief hearing Friday in downtown Phoenix.
Joseph Jessie Corrales, 24, and Robert Chavez robbed Alexis Urbina-Ochoa’s home in Sept. 3, 2013, and killed Urbina during the robbery, according to court records.
Urbina, a 2013 USA Boxing youth national champion, died in a hospital after being beaten at his home near Seventh Street and Broadway Road. Urbina, 17, had stayed home from school that day and was home alone while his family ran errands, police said.
Police arrested Corrales and Chavez after they were found selling items stolen from the home, including a cell phone that had Urbina’s photo on it.
Chavez was sentenced to 25 years in prison in February.
“My role in this crime was minimal to none,” Corrales told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Pamela Svoboda on Friday.
“I am not a criminal, I’m a man who made a mistake in life,” he said.
Corrales was on probation at the time of the mur- der for another robbery where he was the driver, and Deputy County Attorney Gregg Thurston said Corrales deserved the toughest sentence the plea deal would allow.
Corrales’ attorney, Kellie Sanford, said he deserved the most lenient sentence Svoboda could hand down — 16 years in prison — because men Corrales’ age do not have “the cognitive thinking to get out of bad situations.”
Svoboda sided with the prosecution and gave Corrales the maximum sentence allowed under the plea deal.
“No amount of prison time can bring back a precious son, brother, or trainer,” Svoboda said. “He had an incredibly bright future, this crime was so senseless for such minimal property.”
“I am not a criminal, I’m a man who made a mistake in
life.”
JOSEPH JESSIE CORRALES
SENTENCED IN THE MURDER OF ALEXIS URBINA-OCHOA