A man who in 1998 killed his mother when he was 16 years old, has been re-sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Nathan Gayle Ybanez, now 29, filed a motion after his original sentence, just weeks before his 18th birthday, asking for post-conviction relief claiming his lawyer had been ineffective because they didn’t present evidence of his child abuse.
After hearing testimony over several days, the court has concluded that there was no evidence of physical abuse by either parent.
In an 18-page order, the court stated, “Defendant repeatedly denied abuse by either parent other than some physical punishment earlier in his life.”
According to the order, both Ybanez and his father reported that he had been disciplined with a metal spoon, belt and a wooden spatula between the ages of 8 and 12, but later was not punished physically.
“There has been no credible evidence adduced through this proceeding that Nathan’s relationship to his father months before (he) left the household was related to the killing of his mother,” the court order stated, according to a release from the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
No evidence of sexual abuse was presented at the post-conviction hearing.
A Douglas County court had originally tried Ybanez in 1998, finding him guilty of first-degree murder for killing his mom on June 5, 1998, with co-defendant Erik Jensen, by beating and strangling her to death in her Highlands Ranch home.
In 1999, he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Under the law that existed at the time of the murder, the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole was mandatory.
Today, current law allows the eligibility of parole after 40 years for juveniles, but that law is not effective retroactively.
