Karina Corbalan was sentenced to 25 years in prison and 10 years of probation for the 2020 shooting of Alejandro Sanchez.
MIAMI, FL — Karina Corbalan pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder in the fatal 2020 shooting of her former boyfriend, Alejandro Sanchez, in Hialeah and was sentenced to 25 years in state prison followed by 10 years of probation.
The plea resolves a case that had remained open for more than six years after Sanchez, 28, was shot near a home along West 21st Avenue on March 2, 2020. Corbalan, who was 23 at the time, was arrested after the shooting and initially faced a second-degree murder charge. Local news reports said Corbalan and Sanchez were no longer dating when he was killed.
Hialeah police responding to the shooting found Corbalan kneeling near Sanchez, according to reports at the time and later coverage of the case. Sanchez had been shot multiple times and was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he died from his injuries. Officers also recovered a firearm at the scene.
An arrest report cited by Local 10 News said Corbalan told a detective that she had shot Sanchez during an argument earlier that morning about their relationship. The report said she described firing about five times. Other accounts described a larger number of shots, including surveillance recordings in which neighbors said they heard about 15 gunshots. Authorities consistently reported that Sanchez was struck multiple times.
Images from the scene showed a dark-colored car with damage to its windshield. Witnesses interviewed after the shooting said Sanchez tried to get away before collapsing near the home. Police took Corbalan into custody, and a judge ordered her held without bond on the second-degree murder charge.
Sanchez’s relatives gathered for a candlelight vigil shortly after his death and followed the criminal case in the years that followed. His mother spoke publicly about the loss of her son and appeared in court after Corbalan’s arrest, telling a judge that she wanted to see Corbalan held accountable.
At Monday’s sentencing hearing, Corbalan apologized to Sanchez’s family and said she had loved him. Sanchez’s mother rejected the apology, telling Corbalan that the family had waited six years for her to acknowledge what happened. “You killed my baby, and I can never forgive that,” she said during the hearing.
The guilty plea changes Corbalan’s legal status from an accused defendant to a convicted offender and ends the need for a trial on the murder charge. The sentence calls for her to serve 25 years in prison, followed by a decade of probation.
The case began with a fatal shooting on a Hialeah residential street in March 2020 and ended more than six years later with Corbalan’s guilty plea and prison sentence. She will remain subject to the sentence imposed Monday, including the probation term that is to follow her incarceration.
Author note: Last updated August 21, 2026.