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Arizona inmate sentenced for deadly beating after basketball game

Posted at 10:39 AM, May 03, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-03 13:39:00-04

An Arizona inmate has been sentenced to nearly four more years in prison for a fatal fight with another inmate.

The Casa Grande Dispatch reported Tuesday that the fight was over a basketball game.

Forty-two-year-old Michael Favela pleaded guilty to negligent homicide last month in relation to the death of 37-year-old Anthony Lopez.

Lopez had been taken to a nearby hospital but never regained consciousness.

Attorneys involved in the case had said in court that a brain aneurysm ultimately killed Lopez. Deputy County Attorney Amy Diederich says Lopez' medical condition added some legal complexities to the case, which resulted in the charge of negligent homicide.

Favela had been serving about a 20-year sentence before the incident.