Joliet killer gets 61 years

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Pedro Sanchez / photo from Will County State's Attorney's office

Updated: January 6, 2012 9:25PM

The killer of a Joliet man shot to death with his two young children nearby will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak on Friday sentenced 33-year-old Pedro Sanchez, of Joliet, to 61 years in prison. She did so after his victim’s mother struggled to describe the pain she felt after the murder of her first-born son.

“I pray to God for strength,” said Betty Gooch, mother of Robert Gooch.

A jury convicted Sanchez of first-degree murder in March for Robert Gooch’s May 2009 death. At the time, the two men had been tangled up in a love triangle with Ellissa Hinton, according to trial testimony. Hinton said she’d been having sex with Sanchez while dating Gooch. But when Sanchez said he wanted to take their relationship further, she chose Gooch.

Gooch answered the door of Hinton’s Lois Place apartment the night he was killed, prosecutors said. Hinton said she heard Sanchez’s voice, followed by a gunshot. She found Gooch in the doorway of her living room, bleeding from his head.

Gooch’s two young children had been sleeping on a pull-out couch in that living room

Prosecutors say another man was in the hallway of the apartment complex with Sanchez. Jesus E. Zambrano, 21, of Joliet, is also charged in Gooch’s death but has yet to face trial.

Sanchez’s attorney said he’d been trying to turn his life around before Gooch’s murder. Sanchez himself said he’d only gone to Hinton’s apartment to collect some DVDs, and he apologized to Gooch’s family for what happened.

“This probably don’t mean nothing,” Sanchez said, “but I’m sorry for your loss.”