A Santa Fe judge sentenced Isaac Apodaca to life in prison plus 15 years in the sword killing of Grace Jennings.

The term The New Mexican reported from Thursday's hearing is life plus 15 years, consecutive, with the 15-year sentence served first. That is the judgment the paper says Judge Ellington imposed. KOAT's July 15 story still had the hearing on Aug. 24 and described the exposure as up to life. Kiara McCulley's 30-year figure is not in the same tense in every account: KOAT said in July that she is serving it, and The New Mexican said Thursday that she is expected to receive it.

State District Court Judge T. Glenn Ellington on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, sentenced Isaac Apodaca to life in prison plus 15 years in the killing of Grace Jennings, The New Mexican reported. The paper reported Apodaca, 29, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy for coercing his then 19-year-old girlfriend to kill Jennings, 21, with a sword in 2022. Ellington ordered the sentences served consecutively, starting with the 15-year term, The New Mexican reported. The paper's sentencing story does not say which count carries the 15 years. KOAT, in a story updated July 15, 2026, spelled his name Isaac Samson Apodaca and reported a jury had found him guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. That July story said sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 24. KOB's story Thursday morning still described the hearing as ahead and said he faces life in prison. Thursday's term is the one The New Mexican reported from the hearing.

KOAT reported the trial lasted six days and that the state introduced text messages, crime-scene evidence, forensic findings and expert testimony on planning. The New Mexican's verdict story reported jurors deliberated about two hours on a Wednesday, part of that time during a power outage at the downtown courthouse, before convicting him of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. That story, written when the sentence was still ahead, said he could face life when sentenced in August. KOB reported the conviction was in July. The defense at trial was that Kiara McCulley acted alone and that Apodaca walked in on the killing, KOAT and The New Mexican reported. The New Mexican's verdict story reported one jury instruction said he could be found guilty of first-degree murder even if he did not do the acts, if the state proved he helped, encouraged or caused the killing. The jury's verdict is the finding on those counts. Thursday's hearing is where The New Mexican says the judge set the term.

McCulley is the person who used the sword, The New Mexican reported. The paper reported she swung a three-foot sword in a detached garage on Santa Fe's south side, and that she testified she killed Jennings after Apodaca goaded her by text message for hours, exploiting what the paper called her delusional belief in a dark fantasy underworld. The New Mexican's verdict story reported she was 19 at the time and is now 23, and that the garage was at her mother's home, where she had lived with Apodaca. KOAT reported she testified he spent hours the night of the killing urging her to do it. What she said from the witness stand is testimony. It is the account the jury heard before it convicted him.

The accounts do not put her own sentence in the same place. The New Mexican reported Thursday that she pleaded guilty in 2025 to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and is expected to receive 30 years under an agreement that required her to testify. The paper's verdict story said she will be sentenced to 30 years. KOAT reported she pleaded guilty on Feb. 10, 2025, to aggravated second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and that as of the July story she is serving 30 years. KOB's Thursday story, still looking ahead to the hearing, said she faces 30 years. A plea is her case. The 30-year figure is what those outlets say the agreement calls for. The New Mexican's Thursday story does not say that term was imposed at Apodaca's hearing.

The New Mexican also reported that Jennings's sibling, Arlo Jennings, and others gathered outside the First Judicial District Courthouse on Thursday before the sentencing. The paper reported Arlo Jennings said prosecutor Haley Murphy had told the family McCulley's testimony was needed to convict Apodaca, and that Jennings called the case a "slam dunk" that should have been tried against her as well. Signs asked that the plea be withdrawn and that both defendants get life, the paper reported. A sidewalk protest is not a resentencing. The term The New Mexican reported from the courtroom is life plus 15 years for Apodaca, consecutive, starting with the 15-year sentence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.