SAN DIEGO—A man convicted in the kidnapping and killing of an 18-year-old U.S. citizen in Tijuana was sentenced in San Diego federal court Dec. 10 to life in prison.

Brian Alexis Patron Lopez, 24, was found guilty by a San Diego federal jury for the abduction and shooting death of Miguel Anthony Rendon, a San Diego resident who was kidnapped from a Tijuana hotel, then beaten and tortured while his captors demanded a ransom of money or drugs from his family.

Prosecutors say Rendon had initially agreed to transport just over two pounds of methamphetamine across the border, but stole the package, leading to the retaliatory kidnapping in May 2020 by Patron Lopez and others.

Following the abduction and torture, prosecutors say Patron Lopez took Rendon to a deserted hillside and shot him multiple times. Mexican authorities discovered his body on the hillside about a week later.

Four others were charged in the case for various roles in the abduction, pleaded guilty, and have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from five years to nearly a dozen years behind bars.

Patron Lopez was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment for counts of hostage taking resulting in death and conspiracy to commit hostage taking resulting in death. Those counts carry mandatory minimum sentences of life in prison.

He also received a 35-year sentence for a count of intentional killing while engaged in drug trafficking.

All three prison terms will be served concurrently.

Defense attorney Meghan Blanco argued on Dec. 10 that despite the mandatory life terms, such a sentence represented a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s provisions against cruel and unusual punishment.

Blanco said her client was 18 years old at the time of the killing with no prior criminal history, yet was facing a disproportionately higher sentence than his co-defendants. The attorney said that while prosecutors alleged Patron Lopez was the shooter, the jury’s verdict contained no special findings indicating their belief that he was the shooter.

U.S. District Judge William Hayes said that according to his knowledge of the case as the judge who sat through the trial, he believed Patron Lopez was involved in the victim’s kidnapping and torture, and was also “the executioner.”

The judge also said per his review of other cases involving mandatory life sentences, it would not be unconstitutional to impose life sentences against Patron Lopez.

The sentencing hearing also included a statement from Emma Medrano, the victim’s mother.

“I want him to understand we are living a life sentence too, a life without Anthony’s voice, his smile, his future,” she said. “I want this man to carry the weight of what he did for the rest of his life.”