Maine’s highest court upheld an Oxford County man's murder conviction and 50-year sentence.
Rondon Athayde of Hartford beat his longtime girlfriend, 41-year-old Ana Cordero, to death while the couple’s children were inside the home in December 2018.
According to the Press Herald, Athayde claimed the Oxford County court made errors during his trial last year, saying the court erred in denying his motion to suppress statements he made to police when they walked him through his home after he reported Cordero’s death.
The Press Herald reports he claimed the court erred in denying his motion for a judgment of acquittal “because a jury could not rationally find that his conduct was sufficient to cause the victim’s death.” He also claimed the court “abused its sentencing power in considering a history of domestic violence between Athayde and the victim in determining his base sentence,” according to the Press Herald.
A judge imposed the sentence Tuesday on Rondon Athayde, who was convicted of murder in June.
In September 2021, Justice William Stokes, who imposed the sentence, called the domestic violence assault an “abomination,” adding that the images of Cordero and the crime scene “stayed with me for several weeks.”
The couple had moved from Brazil to Maine. Stokes found that the abuse had been occurring long before the fatal attack in 2018 at the couple’s home in Hartford.