Guilty: Immigrant murder suspect politicized by DeSantis in Jacksonville is sentenced

A Jacksonville murder suspect living here illegally and politicized by the governor now will be staying in Florida a lot longer.

Yery Noel Medina Ulloa pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the 2021 stabbing death of 46-year-old Francisco Javier Cuellar. Following the plea agreement, Judge Mark Borello sentenced him to 60 years in prison, according to the State Attorney's Office.

The 25-year-old Honduran citizen was initially apprehended by Border Patrol agents in Texas after attempting to illegally enter at the U.S.-Mexico border, the State Attorney's Office said. He claimed to be a juvenile and provided a false name. Medina Ulloa was then served a notice to appear, released and later flown to Jacksonville.

It's unclear exactly how he arrived here, but The New York Post wrote about the Medina Ulloa case quoting the victim's daughter as saying she believed he came in on resettlement flights, which DeSantis lambasted during an unrelated news conference in Jacksonville.

"He should have never been in this country to begin with, and definitely should not have been dumped in the state of Florida," DeSantis said.

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State Attorney Melissa Nelson followed that up with her statement Friday.

“As we have seen time and time again, the federal government’s failure to secure our nation’s borderhas led to a travesty in a local community," Nelson said. "This time, tragically, it was our community after an illegal alien murdered an innocent man. This 60-year sentence, however, ensures Medina Ulloa will never beable to harm another law-abiding citizen.”

Early on Oct. 7, 2021, police were called to the area of Lone Star and Monument roads for a report of a male covered in blood walking along the roadway, according to an arrest report. They located Medina Ulloa, originally identified as a 17-year-old named Reynel Alexander Hernandez.

Witnesses provided officers with the location of where he was first observed walking, and Cuellar was found dead inside an unsecured home where they both lived. Medina Ulloa did not have any significant injuries, but another person who arrived told officers he called him saying he had killed “Uncle Francisco” because he hit him, the arrest report said. Home security video showed Medina Ulloa repeatedly stabbing him and hitting him with a chair.

Gov. Ron DeSantis calls out President Biden's immigration policies

On the same day Medina Ulloa pleaded not guilty during a court appearance — and after the Governor's Office tipped media about the hearing — DeSantis was in Jacksonville to announce a $6 million grant to fund the construction of a road at Cecil Airport to service a planned Boeing facility and future spaceport growth. He also took the opportunity to rail against President Joe Biden's immigration policies. He said he will seek legislative help to stop the flights of private contractors hired by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to bring refugees to Florida.

Last year DeSantis thrust himself into the national immigration debate even further when he used taxpayer funds to relocate nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, unbeknownst ahead of time to the authorities there, according to The Tallahassee Democrat

He said the flights were part of a $12 million Florida program to transport undocumented immigrants to so-called sanctuary destinations and to protest Biden’s “reckless” border security policies. Other state governors orchestrated similar stunts.

"Our message to them is we are not a sanctuary state, and it's better to be able to go to a sanctuary jurisdiction," DeSantis said in the story. "And yes, we will help facilitate that transport for you to be able to go to greener pastures."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Immigrant politicized by DeSantis in Jacksonville death pleads guilty