Escondido

A 25-year-old man who drove his car into two men outside a bar, killing one of them, was sentenced Thursday to 15 years to life in state prison.

Ruben Guzman Valle of Escondido also was ordered to pay $6,000 in funeral expenses to the family of Alfredo Chavez Sandoval, 33, who watched the sentencing by San Diego Superior Court Judge William Mudd.

Guzman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the March 20 incident outside a Southeast San Diego bar. He earlier had been involved in a dispute with the two men over a woman inside the bar.

Guzman’s attorney, Wayne Gomez, told the judge the defendant had no recollection of what had occurred that night.

Although Guzman had been drinking and had cocaine in his system, the judge remarked that the defendant probably knew what was happening. “All of this over some misunderstanding in a bar,” Mudd said.

Injured in the same incident was Cirenio Samano, 34, who suffered a broken leg, but did not appear at the sentencing.

Before his arrest, Guzman was a cook at a Rancho Bernardo seafood restaurant.