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The man who shot and killed 24-year-old Faviola Hernandez during a botched robbery at her Glendale hair salon in 2007 was sentenced to prison Tuesday to life without parole.

Miguel Mateos-Martinez, 23, was convicted by a 3rd District Court jury in February of one count of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of aggravated assault.

Judge Deno Himonas said it was "a very close issue" on whether to impose 20 years to life or a life term on the aggravated murder count.

In handing down a life sentence, the judge said he did so with "a heavy heart."

Himonas noted that the defendant — just 19 years old when he committed the murder — is "a young man with a relatively short criminal history" who did not walk into the hair salon intending to kill anyone.

But the slaying was "marked by depravity," the judge said, having occurred in the presence of the victim's younger brother and sister, who were 7 and 12 years old.

And regarding the defendant's apology, the judge said: "Your words of remorse just rang hollow. Too little, too late."

Mateos-Martinez had insisted that no one was supposed to die during the robbery.

"I just wanted the money, and that was that," he told the court. "I didn't know stuff was going to turn out this way."

He said the news media had made him "look like a monster," adding, "I ain't that person."

"Please gimme a chance to one day get out" of prison, the defendant asked the judge. "I know I can change."

Life in prison was the result Rosa Hernandez wanted on behalf of her slain daughter.

"I feel relief … like justice is served for my family and Faviola," the mother told reporters after the hearing. She called the defendant's apology "a bunch of baloney," aimed only at currying favor with the judge.

In court, Rosa Hernandez told the defendant, "We're never going to forgive you."

She said that if Mateos-Martinez had simply asked her daughter for $50, she would have given it to him "because she has this big heart to help people."

Laura Hernandez, who witnessed her sister's slaying, angrily called the defendant "a piece of scum."

"I hate you worse than anything in the world," the now 16-year-old girl told him. "I hope you rot in hell and die slowly."

Arguing against life without parole, defense attorney Ralph Dellapiana noted that in the past decade the public defender's office has represented seven other people involved in robbery/murders. And prosecutors charged every one of them with first-degree felony murder, which is punishable by 15 years to life. He said Mateos-Martinez is the only robbery/murder defendant who was charged with aggravated murder.

Dellapiana told The Tribune, "It's just not fair. There is no valid reason to charge this case differently."

He added: "Send them all to prison if you want, but treat them all the same."

According to evidence during the defendant's three-day trial, he entered The Shop on the afternoon of Aug. 15, 2007, brandished a gun and ordered a male customer and Faviola Hernandez's younger brother and sister onto the floor.

When Mateos-Martinez demanded cash from Hernandez, she stepped into a back room and returned holding a gun of her own.

Mateos-Martinez shot her once in the chest and fled without any money, eventually ending up in Mexico.

Key trial evidence against Mateos-Martinez included:

• Being identified as the killer — during a photo line-up, and in court — by the customer and the victim's younger sister.

• Testimony from the getaway driver's former girlfriend that she heard a gunshot after the defendant entered The Shop.

• A note, purportedly written by the defendant and passed to another Salt Lake County jail inmate, in which he confessed to killing Hernandez.

The defense argued at trial that police had arrested the wrong man.

They claimed the eyewitnesses misidentified a tattoo they saw on the gunman's arm, and claimed the jail inmate had "a motive to fabricate" the note to gain leniency for himself in a pending drug case. The defense noted that the getaway driver's girlfriend told three different stories about her involvement, and even lied under oath during a preliminary hearing.

The getaway driver, Jesus A. Jimenez, 25, was convicted in 2008 of first-degree felony counts of murder and aggravated robbery and is serving 21 years to life in prison.

The death penalty was not an option for Mateos-Martinez because he was extradited from Mexico, where authorities do not release suspects unless U.S. prosecutors promise not to seek execution.