A Tucson teenager who originally was facing a murder charge in the death of a 27-year-old cabdriver was sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday on an armed-robbery charge.
Moments before she was sentenced, Jessica Gallegos, 17, apologized to the family of Timothy R. Royce and promised to make something of her life after she is released from prison. She said she hopes to go to college and get into the Marine Corps.
Gallegos admitted she knew her friends were going to rob Royce to get money to bail another friend out of jail, and that she chose to go along with them.
Royce's body was found near his Yellow Cab in an alley near the University of Arizona in March 2008. Gallegos, Ruben E. Archunde, 21, and Marisela N. Pacheco, 31, were arrested less than a week later.
Police believe Archunde shot Royce, but authorities charged Pacheco and Gallegos in the homicide under the felony murder rule, which allows individuals to be charged with murder when someone dies during the commission of certain felonies, such as robbery.
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Detectives found the three at their home in the 3600 block of East Third Street.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Archunde, according to court documents.
Gallegos pleaded guilty to armed robbery and could have received between three and 12 1/2 years in prison.
Before the sentencing in Pima County Superior Court, Judge Frank Dawley listened to statements from Royce's mother, Dianna Barsotti; his sister, Alicia Royce; and Royce's fiancée, Melissa, who gave birth to their son five months after Royce died and changed her last name to Royce.
Alicia Royce described her only brother as a "voice of reason." She could always go to him for encouragement when she felt overwhelmed, she told the judge.
Barsotti shared stories about her son as a picture slide show played in the courtroom. Her tears flowed as she read how one of Royce's uncles didn't have particularly high expectations of Royce but now realizes appearances can be deceiving.
"Whenever I see someone with tattoos, I think of Tim and how I cheated myself of having people like him in my life," Barsotti said, quoting the uncle.
Royce served in the Army and recently earned an associate's degree in finance from Pima Community College.
As Melissa Royce spoke to Dawley, her 8-month-old son, Timothy, dozed out in the hallway in the arms of a victims' advocate from the Pima County Attorney's Office. She and Royce felt as though they'd been friends forever on the day they met, and she always will remember the look on Royce's face when he first heard his unborn son's heartbeat, Melissa Royce said.
"The only reason I'm alive today is the life that was inside of me," Melissa Royce said. "Losing that kind of true love is a torture worse than death."
