Killer of wife gets two life sentences

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003 | 9:13 a.m.

A Las Vegas man accused of killing his wife after she told him she was filing for a divorce was sentenced to two life sentences Wednesday in District Court.

Manuel Juan Jimenez, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon and one felony count of aggravated stalking in the July death of his wife, Tammy Jimenez, 34.

The guilty plea came as the result of a plea agreement, in which prosecutors threw out an open murder charge.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure handed down the two life sentences for the murder with a deadly weapon charge. He handed down an additional two to five-year sentence for the stalking charge.

Jimenez will be eligible for parole in 20 years.

Bonaventure also ordered Jimenez to pay $8,535 in restitution.

"I've been on the bench a long time and I still can't understand these domestic violence disputes," Bonaventure said. "I don't know what society is coming to. A woman wants to leave him and he shoots her with a shotgun? I hope you never have a moment of peace until you come to terms with what you did."

Jimenez apologized to his wife's aunt, Carmie Cameron, who was in the courtroom during the sentencing.

"I'm very sorry," he said. "I know there is nothing I can do at this time. I know I should be put to sleep like a dog."

Deputy District Attorney Phil Brown said Jimenez contacted Tammy Jimenez several times, despite her attempts to end the relationship.

Brown asked Bonaventure to sentence Jimenez to life with the possibility of parole for the murder charge and 40 months to 15 years on the stalking charge.

"The facts do not dispute that the defendant shot his wife five times," he said. "She had expressed the night before that she was going to leave him and the defendant knew it."

But Deputy Public Defender Joseph Abood said Jimenez bought the gun to kill himself. He said Jimenez called police immediately after the shooting.

"It's clear he was in a bad place when this incident occurred," he said. "He has shown extreme remorse and he took responsibility for what he did.

Abood also emphasized that Jimenez had no previous criminal record.

Cameron told Bonaventure her niece had called her several times and told her she was planning to divorce Jimenez.

"She walked into that house only to be viciously and cold-heartedly shot to death," she said. "There was no mercy shown to Tammy. There should be no mercy shown to Juan for what he did."