Arizona man gets prison for killing ex-girlfriend in front of her daughter

PHOENIX - A Guadalupe man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend in front of her daughter in 2010 has been sentenced to 44 years in prison.

Maricopa County prosecutors say 27-year-old Victor Abraham Martinez Jr. received a 22-year prison term Friday for second-degree murder and a consecutive 22-year sentence for child abuse.

Martinez was charged with fatally shooting Christina Hallman as she sat in a car in a Tempe parking lot with her 2-year-old child on Jan. 4, 2010.

Tempe police say Hallman's daughter was left alone with her mother's body overnight. Employees of a Tempe warehouse saw the murder scene when they arrived at work in the morning and called police.

"He killed Christina in front of her 2-year-old daughter and then left the baby for dead," said Dave Hallman, Christina's brother. "When they found Isabel she was crying and she was cold. They had to pry her off of her dead mother in blood."

On Friday, the judge listened as Christina's family tearfully told the judge about the painful impact this continues to have.

“To see my daughter, I have to look at pictures or I have to go to her grave,” said Christina’s mother, Linda.

Linda said the family bond is still strained, 3 years later, from the stress and anguish.

“We have no family functions. We do nothing as a family anymore,” said Linda.

Dave shared the same sentiments.

“The thoughts of trying to get together and act as a family and then you start to laugh and then all the sudden you just become riddled with guilt because Christina's no longer with us,” said Dave.

Authorities say Martinez dated Hallman about three months before the relationship soured and he had a prior history of domestic violence.