Killer in ambush given 38 years

The women who played a significant role in Joseph Sanchez's life -- his mother, sister and the mothers of his seven children -- packed the front row of a Ramsey County courtroom Wednesday to hear how long his killer will spend in prison.

Nathan N. Durick, 27, was sentenced to 38 years for the Nov. 9 murder of 28-year-old Sanchez in St. Paul. Durick, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty in March to intentional second-degree murder and faced a lengthy sentence because of his extensive criminal record.

After the sentencing, Roxanne Malachesen, Sanchez's mother, praised District Judge Kathleen Gearin and prosecutor Dawn Bakst who spoke "for my son who can't speak for himself."

"Everybody gave my son the justice he deserved," Malachesen said.

Bakst had asked Gearin to give Durick a 40-year sentence because of the brutal nature of the ambush killing. She said Durick and his co-defendant, Nicholas T. Jackson, who had a long-standing feud with Sanchez, had test-fired a gun on the day of the murder to make sure it was working and had arranged for someone to notify them of Sanchez's whereabouts. When they found him leaving a home on St. Paul's East Side, Durick fired nine shots at Sanchez as he ran away.

"They murdered him in cold blood in a dark alley," Bakst said.

Durick previously declined an offer by prosecutors for a 28-year sentence that would have required him to testify against Jackson, who still faces a second-degree murder charge.

"There's absolutely no excuse for what I've done," Durick said. "I'll never understand the pain I've caused you all."

While Gearin credited Durick for admitting to his role in the murder, she called his decision to shoot at Sanchez, of Lake Elmo, "impulsive, careless and intentional." Alhough Sanchez had also been careless and held grudges, Gearin said he did not deserve to die.

"His life had value," she said. "It's the loss that made me so upset."

Roxanne Medal, Sanchez's sister, said it was her worst nightmare to shop for her brother's funeral clothes. Her family still hasn't been able to install Sanchez's headstone because they have to pay for funeral expenses of about $8,000, she said.

"Death is a part of life but not in the manner Joseph died," Medal said.