![gavel](https://cdn.sdnews.com/wp-content/uploads/20220209173804/gavel.jpg)
A judge sentenced a man on March 4 to 19 years to life in prison for shooting his former boss to death at a Point Loma auto shop in 2011.
Jalal “Joe” Abou, 63, was shot to death at Joe’s Auto Repair in the 1900 block of Rosecrans Street on April 19, 2011.
His former employee, Nicholas Brito Rosales, was suspected and charged with murder from the start and he immediately fled to Mexico.
The victim’s daughter spoke about her father Friday and other family members gave impact statements about their loss at a previous court hearing.
A San Diego Superior Court jury found Rosales guilty of second-degree murder on Sept. 24, 2021.
Rosales worked for Abou as a mechanic and Abou had owned the shop since 2004.
Judge Peter Deddeh imposed 15 years to life for second-degree murder and added four years consecutively for using a gun in a homicide as requested by Deputy District Attorney Oscar Hagstrom.
Rosales, now 57, was extradited from Mexico in September 2017, to San Diego, but was found mentally incompetent to stand trial. He was sent to a state mental hospital for treatment.
Doctors determined he had regained his mental competency and a judge in 2021 also made that finding, so criminal proceedings resumed. His murder trial started Sept. 13, 2021.
Deddeh gave him credit for approximately four years in jail that he served since he was extradited here from Mexico.
Police officers responded to reports of a shooting at 7:30 a.m. and found Abou dead in the driveway of the business.
Mexican authorities arrested Rosales for an unspecified crime and they released him in 2017 to San Diego Police after his prison term was finished.