Former Rocky Ford Officer Gets 16 Years For Man's Murder

LA JUNTA, Colo. (AP) — A former Rocky Ford police officer has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for fatally shooting a man he followed into a home.

Court officials say 33-year-old James Ashby was also sentenced Thursday to five years of parole in the Oct. 12, 2014 death of 27-year-old Jack Jacquez. Jurors convicted him in June of second-degree murder.

Prosecutors say Ashby was on duty when he followed Jacquez into the home of Jacquez's mother and shot him in the back. Ashby told investigators he thought Jacquez was a burglar, but the Colorado Bureau of Investigation determined the officer had no reason to believe Jacquez was committing a crime before the shooting.

Ashby was arrested a month after the shooting. Jacquez's family is suing, saying the tiny department is to blame for hiring Ashby despite his troubled history.

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