05/22/2008

Associated Press

A meth dealer who ordered the murders of two men has been sentenced to life in prison after a jury rejected the death penalty.

The Multnomah County jury convicted 31-year-old Joel Sanchez-Jacobo last week of aggravated murder for the 2006 deaths of Rodolfo Romero-Lopez and Alejandro Sanchez-Hernandez.

During the sentencing phase of his trial this week, the jury heard about Sanchez-Jacobo working on a farm as a young boy in Mexico to help his family survive.

But prosecutors say he squandered his opportunity to improve his life when he came to the United States as a teenager and became a drug dealer.