The verdict came down last May. A jury found Alberto Robles guilty on 17 charges including attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and child abuse, but Monday he maintained he was innocent.

“I am appealing this. I am sorry what happened to the victims,” Robles said to Judge Douglas Driggers in District court.

In trial last year, Robles was placed at the scene of a November 2005 torture case by another person involved in the torture. The suspects had their faces covered. Robles, during trial, was considered the man in the grey sweater.

“He was a party of that. He took place in the act. He was part of the muscle that enforced the terror,” said state prosecutor Jacinto Palomino

Six victims were subject to torture which included being stripped of clothing, gagged with duct tape and burnt with metal tongs -- a surprise to Robles' pastor of 12 years.

“I told Alberto one afternoon that we're going to retire the space he stood in church every Sunday, so I can vouch for his character very strongly,” the pastor said.

Robles faced 174 years according to state prosecutors, but ended up with about two-thirds of that time.

“I wanted to make sure that he would receive enough time that he would spend the rest of his natural life in prison. That’s why I asked for 120 years. The judge gave him 116 years,” Palomino said.

“I was convicted on things I didn't do and the only think I can do is apologize to the courts for wasting their time and for not associating with the correct people,” Robles said.

Two others involved pleaded guilty, one received a 34-year sentence. Robles, had been the least involved according to witnesses.

“The person in the grey sweater, although present for the entire incident, according to the witnesses, the person in the grey sweater did essentially nothing but be there,” defense attorney Dan Salizar said.

Salizar said an appeal will bring out the fact that not all the witnesses were present for trial, and that an informant was allowed to get out of jail to spend time with his dying father if he named Robes as an accomplice.