Oden Gutierrez, the 17-year-old convicted earlier this month of killing 83-year-old Thomas Powell at his Farmington-area home in November 2007, was sentenced Thursday to 49 years in prison despite his last-minute claim of innocence, the Farmington Daily Times reported.

Gutierrez, who has twice escaped from juvenile jails, admitted to police when he was first arrested that he shot Powell once in the back of the head in the kitchen of the elderly man's home on Nov. 26, 2007, and was convicted by a jury who heard his confession at the trial, the Daily Times said.

But on Thursday, Gutierrez claimed he was taking the fall to protect another person who he would not identify, the paper reported.

"I want to say I'm sorry for what happened, but I'm not the person who did this," Gutierrez told the victim's family at his sentencing hearing. "I've always been honest and truthful. I've always tooken (sic) responsibility. I don't hide anything at all because the truth always prevails, no matter how much time it takes."

But Gutierrez said in court that he was trying to steal Powell's car when he saw "this anonymous person" hold the man at gunpoint, the Daily Times said.

"The word rat, snitch, that is something that I despise very much and I cannot do something that I despise," Gutierrez said.

State District Judge Sandra Price wasn't buying it, telling the teen his 15-minute statement was self-serving, according to the Daily Times.

She sentenced Gutierrez to the maximum 49-year sentence for his conviction on charges of armed robbery, aggravated burglary, auto theft and first-degree murder, the paper reported.

6:10am 12/4/08 -- Teen Convicted of Killing 83-Year-Old Man: Oden Gutierrez, 17, faces up to 51 years in prison for robbery and murder.

Jurors deliberated just three hours on Wednesday before finding 17-year-old Oden Gutierrez guilty of first-degree murder and other charges in the Nov. 26, 2007 death of Thomas Powell, 83, the Farmington Daily Times reported.

In a recorded confession played for the jury, Gutierrez admitted to police that he shot Powell once in the back of the head in the kitchen of the man's south Farmington home because he was afraid the elderly man would recognize him and report him to police for escaping a juvenile corrections facility in Albuquerque, the Daily Times said.

Gutierrez faces up to 51 years in prison after being convicted of willful murder, armed robbery, aggravated burglary and theft of a motor vehicle, including a mandatory minimum 30-year sentence for the murder, the paper reported.

A sentencing hearing wasn't immediately scheduled, the Daily Times said.

8:55am 12/2/08 -- Trial Begins for Teen Murder Suspect: 17-year-old's alleged admission that he killed 83-year-old Farmington man will be admitted.

The jury trial of 17-year-old Oden Gutierrez got under way Monday on charges that he killed an 83-year-old south Farmington man, stole his car and fled the state, the Farmington Daily Times reported.

Gutierrez also is charged with escaping jail twice, the Daily Times said.

Before the trial began, attorneys argued over whether a statement Gutierrez allegedly made to police -- that he admitted he "killed the old guy" -- should be excluded from trial proceedings, but state District Judge Sandra Price allowed the statement, saying Gutierrez had been told many times he had a right to remain silent, the paper reported.

"His own words place him inside the home with a gun in his hand, shooting and killing Thomas Powell," Deputy District Attorney Lisa Kuykendall said in her opening statement Monday. "He draws a diagram ... He even draws himself with a gun in his hand."

Police say Gutierrez shot Powell in the back of his head in the kitchen of the man's home on Nov. 26, 2007, because he was afraid the man would recognize him and report him for escaping from an Albuquerque juvenile facility, the Daily Times said.

Arizona state police found Powell's broken-down 1996 Oldsmobile on a highway about 30 miles north of Flagstaff days before the killing was reported, and San Juan County sheriff's detectives were able to track Gutierrez to Las Vegas, Nev., where he was arrested, the paper reported.

After his arrest, Gutierrez jumped over a razor-wire fence at the county's juvenile jail and was captured less than two weeks later in Albuquerque, according to the Daily Times.

His trial is scheduled to run through Thursday, the paper said.

6:25am 4/30/08 -- No Venue Change for Teen Murder Suspect: For now, judge thinks Oden Gutierrez, 17, can get a fair trial in San Juan County.

Oden Gutierrez, the 17-year-old accused of killing 83-year-old Thomas Powell and stealing his car last November and who later escaped from a juvenile jail, can get a fair trial in San Juan County, a judge ruled Wednesday.

But state District Judge Sandra Price said the court would summon three times as many people as normal to ensure the court can find 12 jurors and two alternates who are unfamiliar with Gutierrez's case, the Farmington Daily Times reported.

If not, Price said, she will rehear a motion for a change of venue, the Daily Times said.

Gutierrez's public defender Stephen Taylor had argued that extensive media coverage of the teen's flight, recapture and later escape from the Sant Juan County Juvenile Detention Center on March 11 would prejudice any potential jury, the Daily Times reported.

But Deputy District Attorney Lisa Kuykendall argued that San Juan County is so large that many people called for jury duty won't have heard of the murder or escape and those that have would be able to be fair, the paper said.

"The jurors of San Juan County can set aside what they read in the newspaper," Kuykendall said. "You can bring in enough people that it will be a fair trial."

"We'll bring in three (jury) panels over a two-day period and see how that goes before the court rules whether a change of venue is appropriate," said Price in denying the motion to move Gutierrez's trial out of San Juan County. "I don't believe there's already been a presumption shown."

Gutierrez's trial date will likely be set for late August or early September, Price said.

Meanwhile, the teen has been held in solitary confinement in the county's adult detention center, an exception to the state law prohibiting juveniles who have not yet been convicted to be held in an adult facility, the Daily Times reported.