NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Luis Antonio Talamantes-Romero, a 36-year-old Mexican national, received more than a life sentence in New Mexico last year for a 2019 murder. Now, the U.S. Department of Justice says Talamantes will also serve a 20-year federal sentence for illegal re-entry into the U.S.
Talamantes was the man behind one of Albuquerque’s high-profile murder cases. A New Mexico jury convicted Talamantes of the first-degree murder of Jacqueline Vigil and additional charges.
Before the murder, Talamantes illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico and pled guilty to doing so in 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says. Now, a federal court in San Antonio, Texas has handed Talamantes a 20-year sentence for one count of illegal re-entry.
That means Talamantes has received sentences of life in prison, plus 26 years in prison for the crimes in New Mexico, as well as an additional 20 years in federal prison for the re-entry. That federal sentence starts after Talamantes serves his New Mexico sentence, the DOJ said.
