How a Durham man charged with murder ended up being sentenced to up to 10 years
The charge against a Durham man accused of murder three years ago was downgraded in a plea deal Thursday that changed a possible life sentence to up to 10 years behind bars.
Kevin Antonio Linares-Romero, who had faced a first-degree murder charge, pleased guilty to attempted first-degree murder in the death of 31-year-old Abel Corroles, who was shot and died in a parking lot on Guess Road on Dec. 16, 2018.
Officers found Corroles around 5 a.m., according to police reports.
Linares-Romero was one of three men charged with first-degree murder. The prosecutor said Linares-Romero didn’t have a gun, but drove his co-defendants who exchanged fire with Corroles before they cornered and shot him.
If convicted of murder, Linares-Romero would have faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison under North Carolina’s sentencing rules.
Under the new charge, he faced a minimum sentence of 125 to 157 months, or up to 13 years. However, part of the plea deal included Assistant District Attorney Mitchell Garrell supporting the judge’s consideration of a mitigating factor: that Linares-Romero didn’t have a prior conviction. That resulted in a minimum sentence that could go as low as 94 months or a maximum as high as 201 months.
In addition, Garrell told the judge that Linares-Romero shared information about the crime early on.
Under the deal, Linares-Romero was sentenced to 96 months to 128 months in state prison and given credit for his time in jail, where he has remained since he was arrested after the crime.
Defense attorney Sean Ramkaransingh pointed out that Linares-Romero was 19 at the time of the killing and has accepted responsibility for his role in the killing.
Durham County Superior Court Judge Josephine Kerr Davis approved the plea agreement.
Nightclub dispute
In outlining the facts of the case, Garrell said the evidence showed that Corroles and the two other men charged with his killing had a dispute at a nightclub that escalated into Corroles going out to his car to get a firearm and shooting at the three men across the club’s parking lot.
Corroles then got in his SUV and was followed by the men to a cul-de-sac, where they exchanged gunfire.
No one was hit, but the chase continued to a parking lot on Guess Road near the intersection with Kirk Street.
At the final crime scene, Garrell said, the three men got out of the van and cornered and shot Corroles. Corroles likely returned fire, Garrell said, but no gun was found at the crime scene.
Linares-Romero didn’t appear to have a gun or to fire the shot that hit Corroles in the pelvic area, deflected to his right lung and caused him to bleed to death, the prosecutor said.
The three men then left the scene but were charged with murder after police identified them through surveillance video and interviews with the community.
Oscar Velis-Argueta and Manuel Mejia-Mendoza haven’t agreed to plea deals and could go to trial, Garrell said.
Linares-Romero wore an orange jumpsuit and participated in the court hearing through an interpreter. Corroles’s brother was also in the courtroom listening to the interpreter through headphones. The brother declined to speak during the hearing.
This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 10:08 AM with the headline "How a Durham man charged with murder ended up being sentenced to up to 10 years ."
