Life sentence for Chimene Onyeri looms after attempted murder on Judge Julie Kocurek

AUSTIN, Texas - Inside an Austin federal courthouse, presided by Judge Lee Yeakel, sentencing began Monday for 31- year old Chimene Onyeri.  

Onyeri faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Back in April, Onyeri was found guilty of 17 counts including mail fraud, racketeering, witness tampering, and the attempted murder of Judge Julie Kocurek. She was shot in her driveway in 2015. Prosecutors argued Onyeri did it, because his criminal enterprise would have been threatened, had she locked him up.

Kocurek and her family were in the courtroom Monday, awaiting the sentencing decision. A detective from the Austin police department, a sergeant from Houston police department, and an FBI special agent took the stand Monday, testifying about two murders from 2008 and 2015 that Onyeri was accused of committing.

Those murder charges against were eventually dropped. Despite those charges being dismissed, a spokesperson for the U.S. District Attorney's Office says they hope Judge Yeakel will take evidence from those murders into consideration when sentencing Onyeri for his current convictions.

Onyeri's attorney is trying to get his defendant a lesser sentence of 30 years.