Immigrant gets 38 years in prison for fatal Arizona robbery

By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — A Mexican immigrant was sentenced to 38 years in prison in the fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk during a 2015 robbery in Arizona. Prosecutors had initially sought the death penalty against Apolinar Altamirano in the attack on Grant Ronnebeck. But a court later ruled prosecutors couldn’t pursue his execution because Altamirano is intellectually disabled. The 21-year-old clerk was fatally shot over a pack of cigarettes at the store in Mesa. His death was cited by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans in complaints about crimes being committed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Studies suggest immigrants are less likely to commit crime than people born in the U.S.