Man whose conviction was reversed gets 16 years

YAKIMA — A Yakima murder defendant whose conviction was reversed in 2010 has entered a modified guilty plea to second-degree murder.

James Jaime was sentenced to 16 years and three months in prison in a plea agreement approved Friday in Yakima County Superior Court.

Jaime was tried and convicted in 2006 and sentenced to 34 years in prison. But the Washington Supreme Court reversed his conviction in 2010, ruling it was unfair that his trial was held in the county jail rather than the courthouse.

The Yakima Herald-Republic said Jaime entered an Alford plea Friday in which he did not admit guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him. He was accused of shooting to death 50-year-old Wenatchee resident Ignacio Ornelas during a drug deal at a home in Yakima in 2005.

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