Killer of Gang Rival Gets 20 Years to Life

Arnel Salagubang was sentenced Thursday to 20 years to life in prison for shooting a rival gang member to death in Oxnard with a .22-caliber derringer.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones sentenced Salagubang, 20, to a mandatory 15 years to life for second-degree murder and five more years for shooting into a car in the Nov. 22 slaying of Manuel (Deadeye) Rodriguez. He ordered Salagubang to pay $10,000 restitution to Rodriguez’s mother.

Jones denied court-appointed defense attorney Willard P. Wiksell’s motion for a new trial or a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter and ordered that Salagubang be sent to the state prison at Chino.

“My son maintains his innocence,” Felipe Salagubang said after the sentencing. “I’ve got a father’s instinct, and I believe him when he said he didn’t pull the trigger. I believe he was set up by his friends.”

Presentacion Salagubang, the defendant’s mother, sobbed and clutched a spare change of her son’s clothes, which she had brought in case the judge granted a new trial.

Rodriguez’s family was not present.

Rodriguez belonged to a Latino gang called the Lemonwood Chiques, and Salagubang was a former member of a rival Filipino gang called the Satanas.

Salagubang shot Rodriguez once in the head after Rodriguez yelled racial insults and gang taunts at him and members of the Satanas outside Channel Islands High School, witnesses testified during the trial.

Wiksell argued Thursday that Salagubang killed Rodriguez in self-defense, believing that he was armed.

“What we have here is a voluntary manslaughter, and that’s what the court should reduce the charge to,” Wiksell said, arguing for a new trial. “We have an unlawful act, a tragic killing. He reacted to a known threat, and he overreacted.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. James Ellison argued that Rodriguez did not display a weapon. Ellison recalled testimony that Salagubang pointed the gun at Rodriguez: “He said, ‘You want some of this?’ indicating he had no fear or need to protect himself.”

After Jones denied the motion for a new trial, Wiksell asked that he let Salagubang’s sentences run concurrently for the murder and weapon charges.

“Even under second-degree murder, Mr. Salagubang will spend the entire decade of the ‘90s behind bars,” Wiksell said.

Salagubang sat quietly in prison blues and leg irons during the hearing, listening with his head bowed. He looked up briefly and grimaced when Jones sentenced him to consecutive terms.

After the hearing, Felipe Salagubang said his son was planning to earn his high school diploma and enlist in the Army before the shooting.

“I told him to utilize his time in jail and do something for himself,” Felipe Salagubang said. “He’s kind of stubborn a bit, but he’s a good son.”

Salagubang will be eligible for parole in about 11 1/2 years.