Ralph David McCormick

A former UA employee, who was convicted of first-degree murder in mid-January, was sentenced Friday to life in prison.

Under the sentence, handed down from Pima County Superior Court Judge Leslie Miller, Ralph David McCormick, a former senior office specialist for Facilities Management, will spend 28 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

Last month, a jury found McCormick, 36, guilty of first-degree murder and arson for beating to death his wife, 34-year-old Maria Velasquez-McCormick, with a baseball bat in their mid-town house, putting her body in a rental car and setting the car on fire.

Several months after the murder, McCormick returned to work at the university. While administrators defended McCormick, some of his co-workers in Facilities Management expressed concern over his return.

Defense attorneys had hoped McCormick, who resigned his position after being convicted, would be eligible for parole after his 25-year mandatory sentence, but he must first serve three additional years for his arson conviction.

Prosecutors and family members of the victim had pushed for a life sentence without parole.

Nevertheless, Deputy County Attorney David M. Quantz said that Miller acted within the law and that prosecutors were pleased with the sentencing.