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Pair Sentenced To Life In Prison For Murders Of Sacramento Father, Infant Son

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A convicted killer spoke to the people whose lives he tore apart more than seven years ago, just moments before hearing from a judge he and another man will never be free again.

Donald Ortez-Luero and Christopher Strong were had a front-row seat, as the faces of their victims, Sean Aquitania and his baby boy Sean Jr., lit up the courtroom.

It would be the last thing the convicted killers would see before they were handed life sentences without the chance of parole.

After the sentence, the baby's mother and Sean's girlfriend Monique De La Cruz was too overwhelmed to say much more than she was satisfied with the verdict.

But before the sentence, she and others were able to tell the court about the day their lives changed forever.

In September of 2007, Aquitania and his son were ambushed and shot when the father when to a South Sacramento home to say hello to a friend. They had stumbled onto a robbery.

"I live every day without my son and without the man I love.. I wake up every morning and ask God to give me the strength to continue," De La Cruz said.

Then it was time for Ortez-Lucero to speak.

"To lose your fiancé and son suddenly in the heinous nature that you did is beyond conception," the murderer said. "No one can know the height depth or width of your pain."

But there would be no apology. Just one final plea from the victims' family.

"Your honor, we as a society are that much safer throwing away the key on Chris Strong and Donald Ortez-Lucero," said Louis De La Cruz.

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