Jesse James Ingram, 29, was sentenced to 34 years in prison this morning by state District Judge Ross Sanchez in the July 2007 death of 37-year-old Norma Gutierrez Moya, The Associated Press reported.

Ingram pleaded guilty on Sept. 8 to charges of second-degree murder and kidnapping, after first-degree murder and rape charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement.

6:05am -- Jesse James Ingram To Be Sentenced Today: Man accused of raping and killing a South Valley woman expected to get 34 years.

Jesse James Ingram, accused of raping and killing Norma Gutierrez de Moya in July 2007, will be sentenced this morning after pleading guilty last week to second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement and first-degree kidnapping.

Gutierrez de Moya's body was found floating in the Rio Grande about a day after she left her South Valley home to walk her dog on a river trail, and Ingram was arrested in August 2007 in connection with her death.

Ingram was initially charged with an open count of murder, kidnapping, two counts of rape, assault with intent to commit a violent felony and being a felon in possession of a firearm, but in a surprise plea last Monday on the eve of his trial, he pleaded guilty to lesser charges, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

Because the sex crimes charges were dropped, Ingram will not have to register as a sex offender, but District Attorney Kari Brandenburg told the Journal Ingram won't be eligible for parole for another 28 or 29 years, when he will be about 60.

"Those will run consecutive for a 34-year sentence, Brandenburg said. "We felt that was a good offer, because if he had been found guilty of first-degree (murder), he would have been looking at a 30-year sentence."

Maurice Moya, a former Albuquerque Police Department detective and Gutierrez de Moya's father-in-law, told the Journal the woman's family was "disgusted" by the plea deal and that the family was not consulted before the deal was made.