The New York man convicted of killing his elderly neighbor with a hammer because she wouldn't let him borrow her car will spend at least the next few decades behind bars.

Jonathan Melendez, 41, was ordered Monday to serve 25 years to life in prison for the murder of 88-year-old Rena Eves. As Law&Crime previously reported , Melendez was convicted in October of killing Eves in August 2023 in her own home at Beaver Meadows Apartments on Eimicke Place in Watertown, a medium-sized city located roughly 70 miles north of Syracuse.

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In addition to being found guilty of second-degree murder , Melendez was also found guilty of assault, criminal possession of a

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