Man maintains innocence during sentencing hearing for murder of his wife and daughters

[anvplayer video=”5030786″ station=”998127″]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- After five years of waiting and hurting, the family of Cynthia Villegas and her daughters may finally have some closure.

Judge Dustin Hunter gave Juan-David Villegas five consecutive life sentences for the 2016 murders of his wife and four daughters.

He said while it doesn’t bring the victims back, justice can at least be served to the man who cut their lives short.

District Attorney Scot Key said the sentence doesn’t come as a surprise.

“Completely appropriate sentence under the circumstances and while it took us two hours to get to the end one has to assume that it was never really in doubt,” he said.

But in a statement from Villegas, surprising even his own lawyer, he says he didn’t commit the murders and gave the name of another suspect.

The district attorney’s office said the claim is baseless, and points to Villegas having years to come up with an excuse to make himself look innocent.

“There’s not a stitch of evidence that this man did not commit this crime,” said Key.

The judge said the claim only caused the family more pain.

Villegas’ lawyer declined to comment on the proceedings.