High school dropout who shot best friend, 17, in back and own brother in face sentenced to 40 years

What started as a friendly sleepover between two best friends ended in the death of a 17-year-old after his friend shot him in the back, injuring his own brother with a stray bullet.

James Sotelo will now spend the next several decades in prison for the heinous crime. Corey Thompson was getting ready to go to bed at approximately 3 a.m. one fateful night in March 2021, when 18-year-old James Sotelo, a high school dropout, fired 13 bullets from a 9mm gun, continuing to fire as his friend attempted to flee.

One of the stray bullets hit Sotelo’s brother in the face as he slept in another room, and he survived — but Thompson wasn’t so lucky. It remains unclear why Sotelo decided to fire upon his friend, who he had invited over for a sleepover in Cypress, Texas, a small, unincorporated suburb of Houston just 27 miles northwest of the major city.

Sotelo was convicted of murder and deadly conduct, then sentenced to 40 years in prison

An ensuing investigation into the murder yielded no clues as to the motive, but investigators reportedly determined that most of the bullets struck Thompson in the back while he was trying to flee.

According to prosecutors, Sotelo wasn’t intoxicated, nor did he have any drugs in his system. In a statement, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Kyle Tucker said that fact “makes deliberately pulling the trigger 13 times that much worse.”

Sotelo was arrested and charged with murder, then was released on his own recognizance after footing a massive $100,000 bond, which was set by Criminal District Court Judge Josh Hill, Inside Edition reported.

A motive for the shooting wasn’t determined in the investigation, but the police did find that most of Thompson’s injuries occurred while he was attempting to flee

After he was released, Sotelo was arrested again for allegedly carrying a gun, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. “There was absolutely no reason for this cold-blooded murder, so we know this man is a danger to the community,” she said. “In fact, after he was freed on bond for murder, he continued his criminal ways and was rearrested for carrying a gun.”

Sotelo reportedly footed another massive bond and was released again before he faced trial for the murder. The gun charges were dropped, however, with prosecutors alleging that Sotelo was already charged with murder and forfeited the weapon.

Prosecutors, however, had been hoping to use the gun charge as a reason for the judge to impose a harsher sentence in the case, at least 50 years, according to Tucker. “This defendant doesn’t care about what he did, he did not have any remorse for the victim, and there weren’t any mitigating factors,” he said.

In November 2023, a jury convicted Sotelo, who is now 21, of murder and deadly conduct. The defendant asked to be sentenced by a judge, and he was just this week — he was handed 40 years in prison for murder and two years for deadly conduct, sentences that will run concurrently. He’ll be eligible for parole after 20 years. Sotelo is reportedly appealing the sentence.

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