{"id":16656,"date":"2017-12-21T23:53:55","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T23:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/?p=16656"},"modified":"2023-10-02T23:58:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T23:58:53","slug":"last-defendant-in-homeless-murders-gets-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/2017\/12\/21\/last-defendant-in-homeless-murders-gets-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Last defendant in homeless murders gets 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY COLLEEN KEANE<\/strong>
\nSPECIAL TO THE TIMES<\/p>\n

ALBUQUERUQUE<\/strong> \u2013 Three-and-a-half years after Kee Thompson and Allison Gorman were brutally murdered on the city\u2019s west side, the last defendant in their killings was sentenced last Thursday.<\/p>\n

Gilbert Tafoya, 18, will serve 20 years in a New Mexico state correctional facility followed by five years\u2019 probation.<\/p>\n

New Mexico Second District Judge Briana Zamora advised the victims\u2019 families it was the maximum time she was allowed to give based on a plea agreement between Tafoya and the state.<\/p>\n

During his sentencing hearing before a packed courtroom, Tafoya extended an apology to Thompson\u2019s and Gorman\u2019s family members.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree years ago I made a very bad choice and it weighs heavy on me every day,\u201d he said. \u201cI cannot say how sorry I am. I would ask for forgiveness, but I can\u2019t forgive myself. I wish there was something I could do. I will say, I know what I did, I will turn away and it won\u2019t happen again.\u201d After sentencing came down, Tafoya\u2019s attorney, public defender Mark Earnest, asked Zamora if she would recommend that Tafoya not be sent to the same state prison as either Rios or Carrillo, whom he testified against.<\/p>\n

One thousand two hundred and forty four days will be taken off of Tafoya\u2019s 20-year sentence for the time he has spent in juvenile detention.<\/p>\n

Before Zamora handed down Tafoya\u2019s sentence, close family members of the victims, describing their loss as immeasurable, pleaded for a maximum sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cried for my brother when thinking how anyone could do this to another human being, let alone my brother,\u201d stated Alberta Gorman, Allison Gorman\u2019s older sister. \u201cThis senseless tragedy has impacted our entire family.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach day of the last three-and-ahalf years and five months has been empty of Allison\u2019s joy,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know a life sentence will not bring my brother Allison back, but it is our hope and wish that it will prevent Gilbert Tafoya from committing such a monstrous crime against another human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashley Gorman, Allison\u2019s daughter, told Zamora her dad was a rodeo rider, a fixer of all things and overall very loving man, \u201cwho had a soul so kind and would never hurt anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recalled several special memories with her father \u2014 decorating the banquet hall for her high school graduation, making burritos for breakfast and talking together on the phone for hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY COLLEEN KEANE SPECIAL TO THE TIMES ALBUQUERUQUE \u2013 Three-and-a-half years after Kee Thompson and Allison Gorman were brutally murdered<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16656"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16659,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16656\/revisions\/16659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}