CASTLE ROCK, Colo.—A Highlands Ranch man serving life in prison without parole for killing his mother is back in a Douglas County courtroom this week for a hearing he hopes will result in a new trial.
Nathan Ybanez was 16 in June 1998 when he strangled his 43-year-old mother, Julie, to death with a set of fireplace tongs.
His attorneys asked Douglas County Judge Nancy A. Hopf to vacate his sentence and grant him a new trial, claiming his trial lawyer, Craig Truman, did not provide adequate representation.
Nathan Ybanez’s new attorney, Michael Gallagher, says his client was abused by his parents as a boy but that abuse was not explored as a motive because Truman was hired by the teen’s father.
A friend of Nathan Ybanez’s is also serving life in prison for the killing.
