On June 18 a sentencing hearing for defendant Kevin O’Donough took place at Nogales Superior Court. McDonough was originally charged with first degree murder in the fatal shooting of Jacob Dodson in 2012. Last April, after the District Attorney received the results of evidence testing, McDonough was offered and accepted a plea bargain for negligent homicide.
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Anna Montoya-Paez heard personal testimonials by several of O’Donough’s family members and a close friend, as well as by a family member of the victim. She then pronounced a sentence of four years of parole, and 30 weeks of time to be served, half through community service, and half through weekend incarceration.
The judge told those in attendance that a sentence of parole is, in fact, harder to complete successfully in some ways than incarceration, and acknowledged that this case was one of the most difficult for which she has had to pronounce sentencing.