Carlsbad

A former star wrestler at San Dieguito High School was sentenced Thursday to 45 days in County Jail on two misdemeanor battery charges. He was told by a judge to mend his ways if he wants to keep from going to state prison.

Lawrence Jeffery Penacho, 19, who graduated last June, was sentenced to 30 days for beating a Palomar College student in a supermarket parking lot in La Costa on April 27 and an additional 15 days for beating a fellow San Dieguito High student at a May 30 party in Olivenhain.

Penacho had been convicted by a Municipal Court jury of the April 27 beating and later pleaded guilty in the May 30 case in exchange for prosecutors’ dropping a third charge.

Vista Municipal Judge Harley Earwicker also placed Penacho on three years’ probation and ordered him not to drink until he is 21 years old and to seek counseling to control his temper.

Earwicker told Penacho that, unless he learns to curb his violent urges, he is destined for serious trouble that will send him to state prison. The judge set Jan. 15 for Penacho to begin his county jail term.

The sentence is the toughest meted out to any of the seven current or former San Dieguito High athletes who have pleaded guilty or been convicted in a series of North County beatings.

Penacho’s co-defendant in the April 27 case, 19-year-old Erik Heipt, was sentenced to 15 days in jail and is appealing the sentence.

Two juvenile defendants have been sentenced to do community service and pay their victims’ medical bills; three other juveniles are awaiting sentencing.