Paula Gutierrez, the Bay area woman whose boyfriend shot and killed a Tampa Police Officer, learned her fate on Monday.

She will spend the rest of her life in prison for her role in the shooting death of Lois Marrero. The 19-year TPD veteran was gunned down following a bank robbery on July 6, 2001.

Lois Marrero

Click here to access a site dedicated to her memory.

Gutierrez and her boyfriend, Nestor DeJesus, fled into a nearby apartment building and held a man hostage before DeJesus killed himself. Gutierrez surrendered to police a short time later.

During the robbery Gutierrez held a MAC-11 semi-automatic weapon. The pair fled the bank with nearly $10,000.

Gutierrez will spend the rest of her life in prison.

Gutierrez, 26, cried through much of her sentencing hearing as friends and relatives of both her and Marrero appealed to the court. Before Hillsborough County Court Judge J. Rogers Padgett handed down the sentence, she addressed the court.

"Officer Marrero died a tragic death at the hands of Nester," Gutierrez said. "I feel pain that she's gone and I hurt that I can't go back and change things somehow. I pray that you see I mean it sincerely from the bottom of my soul."

Following her statement Judge Padgett issued three life sentences for Gutierrez. One for each count of felony murder, bank robbery and armed burglary. The murder conviction alone carried a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without parole.

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