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West Tampa Man Gets Life In Ex-Girlfriend's Slaying

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By TOM BRENNAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 19, 2009

TAMPA - A West Tampa man was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted today of killing his ex-girlfriend so she couldn't testify against him in a domestic violence hearing.

It took jurors slightly less than two hours to find Jose Torres-Rodriguez guiltly of strangling Iris Hernandez-Morales on June 17.

The panel also found him guilty of burglary with assault or battery and violating a domestic violence injunction.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Anthony Black sentenced Torres-Rodriquez to life in prison.

Witnesses testified they saw Torres-Rodriquez's truck leaving the victim's Walnut Street home; drops of blood found at the scene matched his DNA.

Friends and relatives became alarmed when Hernandez-Morales didn't appear at the injunction hearing. At a preliminary hearing a week before, she said she feared for her life.

Hers was one of six slayings in six months in West Tampa that shocked the neighborhood.

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 259-7698.

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