Dianna Barsotti is racked with guilt.
It has been 19 months since her son, Timothy Royce, was shot to death and she still cannot sleep without help.
"I'm haunted by images of my son dying alone in an alley with two bullets in his back, lying in the dark with no one to help him," Barsotti sobbed. "Did he know what happened? Did he have time to be frightened? Did he call for help?"
It is a mother's job to comfort her children and she was not there, Barsotti said.
Barsotti was in Pima County Superior Court Monday to attend the sentencing hearing for one of three people charged with first-degree murder in her son's death.
Marisela N. Pacheco, 31, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed robbery.
Her 22-year prison sentence for murder (every day of which must be served) was agreed to ahead of time. Judge Richard Fields had to decide what to give Pacheco on the armed robbery charge and whether to run it concurrently or consecutively with the murder sentence.
People are also reading…
After listening to Royce's loved ones, attorneys on both sides and Pacheco, Fields gave her the maximum sentence of 21 years but ran it concurrently.
Prosecutors say the evidence shows Pacheco, Jessica Gallegos and Ruben Archunde needed money to bail Pacheco's boyfriend (Archunde's brother) out of jail and decided to rob Royce, a driver for Yellow Cab.
Authorities believe Archunde shot Royce once through the seat of his car and another time outside the car.
Royce's body was found near his Yellow Cab in an alley near the University of Arizona and the defendants were arrested within a week and charged with first-degree murder and other felony counts.
Gallegos, 17 at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced to seven years in prison in April.
As Fields watched a slide show of Royce's life, Barsotti told the judge her son was a happy, outgoing man who was full of hope for the future. He had just earned an associate's degree from Pima County Community College and was engaged to his girlfriend, who was four months pregnant with their son.
She now goes through life looking away from taxicabs driving by or young families — anything that might remind her of what she has lost.
"Everyday occurrences are land mines threatening to explode and take me further" into depression, Barsotti said.
Royce's fiancée, Melissa, who took his name after he died, said she would give anything for their 13-month-old son to be able to touch his father and say "Da-Da." He only has pictures now, though.
Melissa Royce said she was taught good things happen to good people, but she does not feel as though she can teach her son that "in good conscience."
Prosecutor Rick Unklesbay asked for the armed robbery sentence to be run consecutively. He said the day after Royce died, Pacheco and Archunde went to the jail to show her boyfriend the Arizona Daily Star's article on the slaying so he could know what they had done for him.
Unklesbay showed Fields a digital recording of the meeting, during which Pacheco can be heard loudly proclaiming "I was there too!"
By the time Pacheco went to the jail, she knew Royce was an expectant father, Unklesbay said. They had found a book on pregnancy with Royce's belongings.
The plan was for Pacheco to bond her boyfriend out of jail, kidnap her child from her parents and flee to Mexico, Unklesbay said.
Defense attorney Rick Lougee extended his condolences to Royce's family, saying it is clear he was a "good and decent" man who did not deserve what happened to him.
But, Lougee said, Pacheco was not the one who planned the robbery or shot Royce.
In fact, tests show Pacheco, with an IQ of 61, is mentally retarded, Lougee said.
Pacheco is so cognitively impaired she does not have the ability to plan and execute a robbery, Lougee said.
As for the jail visit, it clearly shows she was unable to "process" what had happened, Lougee said.
Pacheco is a mentally challenged substance abuser who went along with an abusive man, as she has all of her life, Lougee said.
Lougee argued that the law does not allow the government to execute mentally retarded people and to sentence her to consecutive sentences would also be wrong.
When Pacheco is released from prison she will be 53 years old and no danger to anyone, Lougee said.
When given an opportunity to speak, Pacheco looked at Royce's family and said, "I'm sorry for what I done."
Archunde, 22, is awaiting trial. If convicted, he could receive the death penalty.
