FARMINGTON -- A defendant was sentenced to two counts of second-degree felony robbery, almost two weeks after a judge declared a mistrial.
Joseph Lee Apadaca, 40, was sentenced to serve one to 15 years in Utah State Prison on each count in 2nd District Court in Farmington on Monday.
The judge ordered, according to the court docket, that Apadaca could serve the sentences concurrently as well as serve them with the sentences he is serving out of Idaho on other charges.
Apadaca pleaded guilty to the two counts Aug. 24. The charges stem from robberies that occurred in Clearfield on Dec. 24, 2006, and Jan. 7, 2007.
On Aug. 18, following testimony from witnesses at the robberies, Judge Michael G. Allphin ruled a mistrial, stating that the jury was "sufficiently tainted" by testimony on identification after one witness said she saw a photograph of Apadaca a month before the trial and 3 1/2 years after she was robbed.
Apadaca was extradited in October 2009 from Idaho State Prison, where he was serving two 20-year mandatory sentences and one 15-year mandatory sentence, officers said.
Clearfield police received a tip that Apadaca had committed the two robberies, in 2006 and 2007.
Apadaca was serving time in Idaho after pleading guilty in August 2007 to first-degree felony robbery and second-degree felony kidnapping in a home-invasion case during which an 80-year-old woman was tied up with duct tape and assaulted.
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